


The Nightmare Within

by MorpTheStormwing



Series: The Story Of Cawthon [1]
Category: Five Nights at Freddy's, Marvel, Original Work, Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Good versus Evil, Jade Mountain Academy (Wings of Fire), M/M, Multiple Crossovers, Original Character(s), Possessive Venom Symbiote (Marvel), Revenge, Supervillains
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:13:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 22
Words: 29,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27807373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorpTheStormwing/pseuds/MorpTheStormwing
Summary: The Nightmares and The Cawthon's have been at war since the beginning of the multiverse. And Pyhhria is a place where dragons roam and live in relative peace. Glory is the Queen of the Rainwings and Nightwings, and Deathbringer is her bodyguard, but maybe there's something there? Maybe their bond goes deeper than professional. Well, they better hurry up and find out, because they are about to be caught in the crossfire of THE war. The war that, should it end, would end all wars, either for the better or for the worst. Universe 373, was about to be targeted by the most powerful being in history, and his name rhymes with Proxy.Warning: This story contains A LOT of references to the things listed below. If you do not know anything about more than 2 of these categories, you may not understand this story. However, although I have included these elements into my story, my story may stray from the traditional rules or lore established in the original plot elements.WoFFnafMarvel's SymbiotesI do not own almost any of the characters in this story. The characters in this story belong to their respective creators. Mainly:Tui, SutherlandScott CawthonMarvelAnd a few by me. :D
Relationships: Deathbringer/Glory (Wings of Fire), Moon & Qibli (Wings of Fire), Qibli/Winter (Wings of Fire)
Series: The Story Of Cawthon [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2034580
Comments: 3
Kudos: 5





	1. Prophecy?

Hello? Hello, hello? I'm not sure if this is going through, or if I'm just talking to myself here, but I have to pray to Cawthon that this works. Who I am is no longer important, the only thing is this: by the time this should reach you (if it works that is), **he** should already be there. But I must tell you, it was only the beginning. The gist is this:

A war beyond Pyrrhia is coming,   
A war that has been brewing since the beginning of time,  
A war so powerful, it birthed gods from its soldiers,

A god is coming, but not one of hope,  
A god of destruction, of malevolence, of death,  
He sees millennia ahead, do not try to outwit him,  
He'll kill you on a whim, without hesitation,  
His brawn moves mountains at the snap of a finger,  
Powerful, psycho, clever, dangerous, broken,

But one shall rise from the mother,  
Who's right to choose, was taken from her,  
From her tears shall raise a force,  
So powerful, not even destiny may take its course.

FIND THE MYSTIC

FIND-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Communication Terminated~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Origin: Unknown

Speaker Identity: Unknown  
Speaker gender: Male  
Speaker species: Unknown  
Speaker age: Unknown

**Do not investigate...**

Continue mission as planned...


	2. The First Cawthon

In the beginning, there was nothing. Nothing but Cawthon, a lone creature in an infinite void of nothing. It is unknown how long there was nothing, maybe there was never nothing, but what we do know, is that Cawthon created the first something. He successfully created the first universe, though imperfect, and worked over millennia to make it absolute perfection. But, he knew that something was missing... Something... Something... 

Life. And so, Cawthon created 10 tribes and gave each one a part of his power, giving each tribe their own type of power. Today, this power is known simply as Energy, of course, Cawthon was the only one who possessed the sacred Cawthon Energy. Then Cawthon expanded, creating the multiverse dimension by dimension until he was satisfied. The load of managing all the dimensions proved to be too much for Cawthon alone, so he created an 11th tribe, the Mystics, and gave them control over the dimensions. 

For a long time, there was peace and utter perfection. But then they came; from all of the good, the bad came as a byproduct. The Nightmares were birthed from that darkness, and the moment Cawthon laid eyes on them, he could sense their limitless potential for evil. 

However, instead of killing them, he set them aside, giving them their own land separate from the rest of the tribes. This proved to be the correct choice, as, within a couple of years, the Nightmares had completely sucked the life out of the land they inhabited and demanded more, which Cawthon granted them. This continued for far too long, the Nightmares multiplying and sucking the life out of their land faster and faster, until Cawthon made a deal with the Nightmares. He told them he would replenish their land once every year and that if they learned to behave themselves, he'd bless them with gifts; however, if they did not learn to behave themselves, he would eventually stop replenishing them altogether. 

Unfortunately, the Nightmares were too arrogant to come to terms with this and continued to suck the life out of their land faster and faster. Eventually, Cawthon had enough, and, as he promised, stopped replenishing them. The Nightmares began to die out until one Nightmare discovered something: their energy. Nightmare Energy, unlike the others, was purely destructive, serving no practical purpose other than killing. The Nightmares rose up against Cawthon, and after many years, managed to kill the god, as well as the mystics.

Cawthon's death caused a create imbalance in the multiverse, causing cataclysmic events on an hourly basis. After Cawthon's death, the Nightmare's conquered the rest of the world and eventually began to seep into other dimensions. For a long time, all hope seemed lost until another tribe rose against them. The god's death had caused his energy to disperse across the multiverse, and from his energy formed a new being, with Cawthon's sacred energy. They fought back the Nightmares, and in the end, sacrificed themselves to revive Cawthon, who drove the Nightmares a corner. 

Peace was restored for a little, before the Nightmares rose up again, killing the new Cawthon, but not before he made a promise: Every time a Cawthon dies, another shall be born, so when the Nightmares rise again, so shall Cawthon; and when they rise once again, so shall Cawthon. And it was so. 

This cycle continues to this day, as well as the war, in secret.


	3. Thorn is Shooketh

It was a dull day in the Rainwing kingdom, filled with nothing but paperwork and complaint forms. As an alternative to having Glory sit in an uncomfortable chair for hours listening to complaints, Glory now sat in a less comfortable chair for hours reading complaints. It was tiring but at least it was more efficient than how they used to do it. Now, a dragon could submit up to 3 formal complaints a week, and Glory would go through all of them at the end of the week, addressing as many as possible.

Over the past 7 years, the Rainforest Kingdom had advanced in ways Glory had only hoped for. First of all, the "lazy Rainwing" lifestyle had been completely abandoned. Rainwing's were hardworking citizens, and many of them owned businesses in Kingdoms all over Pyrrhia. There was one Rainwing-Nightwing couple that requested immigration to the Skywing Kingdom just last week for a business for jelly made of roses. Glory had bought some, and it was so good she even sent some to the other queens to try. 

This time, there was only one card in the "special" category, and it definitely caught Glory's eye. 

Rumors are floating around of a strange, scavenger-shaped fox creature with one hand and red eyes. Rumors of sightings have gone up over the past few days, and what started as a stupid rumor is now a concerning problem. It usually wouldn't be a huge deal but I just had a dragonet and I want to forest to be safe for her, so please check it out. 

It was a strange request. To investigate a scavenger fox thing. But it wouldn't hurt, so she wrote a letter that would authorize a search party. 

"Hey, beautiful," Deabringer poked his head through the door of Glory's office with a smug look. 

"Go away, Deathbringer, I'm busy," Glory sighed, but Deathbringer strolled in any way. 

"Can't," Deathbringer said simply. "Urgent matter, in fact, so urgent, I'm disobeying my queen."

"You do that all the time, but get to it," Glory said, growing impatient with Deathbringer's shenanigans.

"Queen Thorn is here," Deathbringer said. "And as I mentioned, she said it's urgent."

Glory looked up from her papers and stared blankly for a moment before shooting upward, knocking envelopes onto the ground; Glory cursed herself, but Deathbringer didn't know if it was because of the news or her knocking over the letters. 

"How long has she been here?" Glory asked frantically. 

"About 30 min. or so," Deathbringer guessed. "She knew you were busy and insisted that she wait for you. I finally asserted that you would make time."

"Well let her in!" Glory half-yelled, and Deathbringer took a moment to smirk at her panic before fetching Queen Thorn. Glory had been a Queen for 4 years now, so she should be used to seeing the other Queens as equals; however, that was not the case. It really wasn't totally Glory's fault, being as young as she is, but with Queen Thorn and Queen Ruby, it was different; they radiated such power and composition, that it made Glory feel belittled in comparison. Yet, when Thorn came in this time, Glory didn't feel belittled, she felt worried. Why? It was many things, Thorn didn't look like herself; she looked... exhausted, to say the least. Her eyes were red with dark bags under them, and her posture was low and broken instead of high and proud. 

"Queen Thorn," Glory said, bowing with respect; Thorn may be her aunt, but she was still Queen. 

"I need to speak with you individually," Thorn said with a voice filled with anxiety.

"Of course," Glory said skeptically, this wasn't like any of her other visits. "Follow me."

Glory led Queen Thorn to the office where meetings between Queens were usually held, a soundproofed office with Glory's desk, which held paperwork, pencils, and various pictures of The Dragons Of Destiny, Glory and the Queens, as well as some with Glory and Deathbringer; the room also contained decorative plants and exotic pieces of art that Glory didn't particularly like but thought that it complimented the room. 

"I-I'm sorry that this is s-so sudden but I just couldn't wait," Thorn says in a hurried, scared manner. "I-it's just that... I can barely speak..."

Thorn laughs awkwardly and trails off, rubbing both eyes with her talon.

"Thorn, you're scaring me," Glory said. Thorn was always so put-together and professional, most of the Queens were but Thorn was always the top-dragon when to came to professionalism. "Is everything ok?"

Thorn barked a laugh. "Of course not! Does it look like I'm ok?" Thorn closed her eyes and rubbed her temples with a long sigh. "I'm sorry, I haven't been sleeping lately and I think that I just discovered caffeine poisoning..."

"Thorn, what is happening?" Glory spoke with heavy concern. Thorn laughed for a moment, her eyes still closed and her body swaying side to side sleepily. As if she was startled awake Thorn's eyes shoot open and she reached for a leaf pack off of her back from which she pulls a notebook with large, thin letters spelling the words Death Note. 

"This was on my desk when I came back from our last meeting," Thorn explained, throwing it down on the desk. "It was attached to a note. Paid good money for this so let's see some results, it read. Let's see some results, was written on the same page where it said anyone whose name is written in this note shall die."

Glory briefly flipped through the pages of the notebook. The first 5 pages or so were devoted to rules, many of which were grammatically incorrect and broken as if it was lazily translated from one language to another. The next 50 or so pages were filled with names, some with descriptions of death and actions taken before death described underneath them. Most were written in scavenger languages, but a select few had names that Glory could understand. However, the thing that worried her the most was a name at the very end that looked like it had been written in fairly recently. 

"I know what you're thinking," Thorn said. "But I did not write any names in it. I couldn't! But... You've met Brushfire. He's the guard I bring to all my meetings. He found it and, ever so determined to prove that it was all a hoax, wrote his own name..."-Queen Thorn was silent for a long moment, uncomfortably long-"40 seconds Glory. I swear it was 40 seconds on the dot."

"Moons above," Glory whispered. Was this really happening?

"It's untraceable," Thorn said. "Whoever gave me the notebook bought it off of someone completely off the grid! I have no idea what to do. I can't eat, I can't sleep, and I can't figure out this damn...!"

Thorn trailed off and threw her face into her talons, in complete distress and disarray. Glory wasn't sure how to react. How did something like this happen? There was no doubt that an animus made it, but who? Could it be someone Glory knew? No. The only animi are Turtle, Anemone, Sunny's father Stonemover, and Jerboa II. And of those dragons, only Turtle had children, and with both Turtle's passive genes and Kinkajou's overly friendly genes, they didn't have the capacity to make something like this. 

Aside from that, Glory could rule out Stonemover right off the bat, since she didn't think Stonemover could use his magic, let alone for something this extravagant. Would Anemone? No, Anemone was too smart for that. She may be impulsive but she wouldn't do something so reckless. Turtle wouldn't let her, Tsunami wouldn't let her. That just leaves Jerboa II, who was somewhat mysterious, and though she claimed that she never used her abilities, no one could confirm this because she lived in isolation. However, Glory had briefly met the Sandwing and doubted that someone as mild and cautious as Jerboa II would do something like that. 

"That's not all," Thorn spoke hesitantly. "There's... Something for you."

The Sandwing Queen slowly pulled out a strange metal hook. There was a short straight line, then the hook, which was almost a perfect half-circle before ending in a razor-sharp point. It radiated strange, violent energy so strong that Glory didn't want to touch it. Thorn suddenly grabbed Glory's talon urgently. "Be careful," Thorn warned one last time before she had to go, denying any questions from Glory as she chased her out the door.

"What was that about?" Deathbringer questioned, but Glory didn't know how to answer.

"Secret queen stuff," Glory said distantly, and Deathbringer seemed to understand that something was wrong. He put a talon on her shoulder.

"You ok?" Deathbringer asked, raising an eye ridge. Wow his talon is warm, Glory thought with a shock, and the scales in that area turned crimson for just a second before she shrugged his talon off.

"I'm fine," Glory said as if she was annoyed. If she told Deathbringer about it, he'd go into one of his phases where he was hypervigilant and wouldn't let Glory go anywhere ever. "I'm gonna go run a few errands, you gonna come with?"

"Of course, do you even know me? Let me just grab something."

"You'll catch up," and Glory was off, leaving Deathbringer to rush in and out of the building frantically.

As they flew through the sky, something watched them from the ground with a slight smile on his face. They looked so cute together, so happy. It reminded him of a simpler time, but he forced himself to push those memories to the back of his head and remembered that he was hatching a plan to murder these two. He watched the two dragons as they ran specific errands. Then, as they returned to go to bed, he tuned in to their conversation, then went home when he didn't hear any sign of sexual tension. 

Oh well, it was time to move on with the plan. 


	4. Visit

_Glory was running through the rainforest as fast as her legs would take her. She didn't know exactly why she was running, but she was running from... something. Or someone. All she knew was that if she stopped for just a second it would catch her. She screamed for help as she ran, unable to fly for some reason. She would jump into the air and flap her wings, but they would suddenly become very heavy, and she would crash down to earth again._

_"Help!" she screamed desperately. "_ _Jambu_ _! Tsunami! Clay!_ _Deathbringer_ _! ANYONE?!"_

_But there was no one to answer her. She was alone, and only wasting her breath. She suddenly tripped over something and went tumbling down a hill. Hitting her hips and ribs on the dirt mounds. When she reached the bottom, she felt something large and cold against her. She recoiled and looked at the thing she rolled into._

_It was_ _Deathbringer's_ _corpse. And a knife was in his throat. Glory cried out in terror. She had stopped. The creature chasing her revealed himself, though not fully. All she saw were his twisted smile and his awful, evil green eyes. Green was usually a signal for good, for life, but his entailed death and mutilation. They bore into her soul, into her mind, corrupting it, breaking it._

_"Thanks for the delivery."_

Glory woke up in a cold sweat, and her Nightwing bodyguard was beside her in an instant, a glass of water already in hand. Glory writhed and screamed, a million tiny fingers clawing at her scales. 

"Calm down," Deathbringer urged. He put the glass of water to the side and grabbed Glory's talons to prevent her from hurting herself, but took a bit of damage in the process. "Glory! Glory! It's me..."-Glory finally began to calm down, and took deep breathes-"It's me... Take 3 deep breathes... Good, now 3 more... And 3 more... Good, good. You're ok."

Glory coughed, and Deathbringer gave her the water, which she gladly accepted, allowing the cool liquid to soothe her dry throat. 

"Thank you," Glory says, breathing heavily. Deathbringer nods and disappears in the bathroom for a moment, before coming out with a cold towel. Deathbringer dabbed Glory's forehead before she took it from him and laid it on top of her head. 

"Wanna talk about it?" Deathbringer asked.

"There's nothing to talk about," Glory snaps, still a bit shook. "How did you know how to do that?"

Deathbringer scoffed. "I've had my fair share of Nightmares, and I... taught it to myself."

Now that her heart had slowed down enough, Glory was starting to feel her fatigue again. "What time is it?"

"Almost Sunrise," Deathbringer responded, causing Glory to grunt and stuff herself into her hammock. "Remember, you're friends are coming today."

Glory launched up again and looked at him. She had totally forgotten about the plans she had made with her friends. Glory groaned and stood up, deciding that it was time to get ready for the day. "Take a bath and get dressed up, I don't want you smelling like a pig when my friends come along. And use soap this time!"

"Fine! Fine!" Deathbringer digressed and went to go take a bath. Glory also took a bath in a separate room, then spent a few minutes changing her scale colors to the best combination, though she didn't find it. I'll figure it out later, Glory thought and came out of the bathroom with turquoise base colors with hints of dark blue and indigo on her joints and a gold streak down her spine. 

When she came out, she caught Deathbringer looking in the mirror scraping his horns with a knife. "Are you sharpening your horns?" Glory questioned with a snicker.

"Ssshhhh!" he said harshly, before saying in almost a whisper. "It's a very meticulous process."

Glory chuckled. "My moons, Deathbringer. What am I going to do with you?"

"I have a few suggestions," Deathbringer said smugly, and Glory exclaimed in disgust and stormed out. "Oh come on. I'm sorry, I was joking! Glory!"

Little bits of red and green and a hint of pink appeared on Glory's scales. She stormed out of the palace with a little difficulty. Even after a few years, the palace was just so massive it was hard to navigate sometimes; though the size was necessary since it not only had to be a living space fit for a queen, many of the committees the queen actively supervised (such as the seers, the postal services, etc) also met in the west wing. However, Glory was still allowed to be mad at it. It was only early sunrise, and streaks of purple and gold lit up the night sky. Glory found herself lingering at the doorway, looking at the beautiful picture. That's it, she thought. Glory shifted her turquoise to a dark-ish velvet blue, then added little white spots so it looks somewhat like the night sky, from there, she cast a gold hue then added light rays of purple, orange, and pink. Glory looked again at the sunrise, just taking in how beautiful it looked.

"Almost as beautiful as you," Deathbringer said, coming up next to her with a smirk. Glory rolled her eyes and punched him in the gut, before flying off to the crystal pond. The Crystal Pond is a small place in the forest with water that was so clear you could see the beautiful rocks at the bottom and the fish swimming around. There is a rumor that it was animus-touched, and had the magic ability to heal any injury. But it had never been proven. So for now, it was just a beautiful spot for dragons to meet in. 

Glory saw 3 shapes in the distance. Wow, they're early, Glory thought. Then, something strange happened. It's difficult to describe the feeling that washed over Glory in that instant. It was as if every dragon in Pyrrhia suddenly looked at Glory at once... a million eyes all over her; her scales washed green and her heart skipped a beat, but it was over as suddenly as it began. 

"Glory?" Deathbringer said urgently. He rushed to her side with comedic speed. "Are you ok?"

"I'm alright," Glory lied. She wasn't alright, she didn't even know what happened. "Just had a bit of Deja-"

"Glory!" Sunny screamed as she nearly tackled Glory in a tight hug. "By all the moons I missed you!"

Glory laughed and hugged her friend back as Fatespeaker helped Starflight land. "My goodness, Sunny! Look how big you are!" Glory exclaimed. Sunny was no longer had the little sister look that she'd always had, she was almost as big as Glory.

"I have so much to tell you!" Sunny practically yelled. However long it had been, Sunny still hadn't lost her hyperactive energy.

"Yeah, don't mind the blind guy over here," Starflight said with a smile, and Glory ran over and hugged him and Fatespeaker. 

"It's good to see you, too, Starflight," Glory said. "And Fatespeaker, good to see you're taking good care of my brother for me."

"I try," Fatespeaker joked. 

"Wait, wait," Glory said pulling away. "Where's the rest of us?"

"Clay and Peril are back at JMA, they are taking care of-" Starflight's eyes flashed behind Glory for a moment. "the students."

Glory turned around and saw Sunny sitting innocently, and raised an eye ridge. "Anyway!" Fatesepaker said. "As Sunny said, we have a lot to tell you, but first, you need to tell us!"

"Yes!" Sunny agreed. "Don't leave anything out!"


	5. Catching Up... Is That Thunder?

_Glory was running through the rainforest as fast as her legs would take her. She didn't know exactly why she was running, but she was running from... something. Or someone. All she knew was that if she stopped for just a second it would catch her. She screamed for help as she ran, unable to fly for some reason. She would jump into the air and flap her wings, but they would suddenly become very heavy, and she would crash down to earth again._

_"Help!" she screamed desperately. "_ _Jambu_ _! Tsunami! Clay!_ _Deathbringer_ _! ANYONE?!"_

_But there was no one to answer her. She was alone, and only wasting her breath. She suddenly tripped over something and went tumbling down a hill. Hitting her hips and ribs on the dirt mounds. When she reached the bottom, she felt something large and cold against her. She recoiled and looked at the thing she rolled into._

_It was_ _Deathbringer's_ _corpse. And a knife was in his throat. Glory cried out in terror. She had stopped. The creature chasing her revealed himself, though not fully. All she saw were his twisted smile and his awful, evil green eyes. Green was usually a signal for good, for life, but his entailed death and mutilation. They bore into her soul, into her mind, corrupting it, breaking it._

_"Thanks for the delivery."_

Glory woke up in a cold sweat, and her Nightwing bodyguard was beside her in an instant, glass of water already in hand. Glory writhed and screamed, a million tiny fingers clawing at her scales. 

"Calm down," Deathbringer urged. He put the glass of water to the side and grabbed Glory's talons to prevent her from hurting herself, but took a bit of damage in the process. "Glory! Glory! It's me..."-Glory finally began to calm down, and took deep breathes-"It's me... Take 3 deep breathes... Good, now 3 more... And 3 more... Good, good. You're ok."

Glory coughed, and Deathbringer gave her the water, which she gladly accepted, allowing the cool liquid to soothe her dry throat. 

"Thank you," Glory says, breathing heavily. Deathbringer nods and disappears in the bathroom for a moment, before coming out with a cold towel. Deathbringer dabbed Glory's forehead before she took it from him and laid it on top of her head. 

"Wanna talk about it?" Deathbringer asked.

"There's nothing to talk about," Glory snaps, still a bit shook. "How did you know how to do that?"

Deathbringer scoffed. "I've had my fair share of Nightmares, and I... taught it to myself."

Now that her heart had slowed down enough, Glory was starting to feel her fatigue again. "What time is it?"

"Almost Sunrise," Deathbringer responded, causing Glory to grunt and stuff herself into her hammock. "Remember, you're friends are coming today."

Glory launched up again and looked at him. She had totally forgotten about the plans she had made with her friends. Glory groaned and stood up, deciding that it was time to get ready for the day. "Take a bath and get dressed up, I don't want you smelling like a pig when my friends come along. And use soap this time!"

"Fine! Fine!" Deathbringer digressed and went to go take a bath. Glory also took a bath in a separate room, then spent a few minutes changing her scale colors to the best combination, though she didn't find it. I'll figure it out later, Glory thought and came out of the bathroom with turquoise base colors with hints of dark blue and indigo on her joints and a gold streak down her spine. 

When she came out, she caught Deathbringer looking in the mirror scraping his horns with a knife. "Are you sharpening your horns?" Glory questioned with a snicker.

"Ssshhhh!" he said harshly, before saying in almost a whisper. "It's a very meticulous process."

Glory chuckled. "My moons, Deathbringer. What am I going to do with you?"

"I have a few suggestions," Deathbringer said smugly, and Glory exclaimed in disgust and stormed out. "Oh come on. I'm sorry, I was joking! Glory!"

Little bits of red and green and a hint of pink appeared on Glory's scales. She stormed out of the palace with a little difficulty. Even after a few years, the palace was just so massive it was hard to navigate sometimes; though the size was necessary since it not only had to be a living space fit for a queen, many of the committees the queen actively supervised (such as the seers, the postal services, etc) also met in the west wing. However, Glory was still allowed to be mad at it. It was only early sunrise, and streaks of purple and gold lit up the night sky. Glory found herself lingering at the doorway, looking at the beautiful picture. That's it, she thought. Glory shifted her turquoise to a dark-ish velvet blue, then added little white spots so it looks somewhat like the night sky, from there, she cast a gold hue then added light rays of purple, orange, and pink. Glory looked again at the sunrise, just taking in how beautiful it looked.

"Almost as beautiful as you," Deathbringer said, coming up next to her with a smirk. Glory rolled her eyes and punched him in the gut, before flying off to the crystal pond. The Crystal Pond is a small place in the forest with water that was so clear you could see the beautiful rocks at the bottom and the fish swimming around. There is a rumor that it was animus-touched, and had the magic ability to heal any injury. But it had never been proven. So for now, it was just a beautiful spot for dragons to meet in. 

Glory saw 3 shapes in the distance. Wow, they're early, Glory thought. Then, something strange happened. It's difficult to describe the feeling that washed over Glory in that instant. It was as if every dragon in Pyrrhia suddenly looked at Glory at once... a million eyes all over her; her scales washed green and her heart skipped a beat, but it was over as suddenly as it began. 

"Glory?" Deathbringer said urgently. He rushed to her side with comedic speed. "Are you ok?"

"I'm alright," Glory lied. She wasn't alright, she didn't even know what happened. "Just had a bit of Deja-"

"Glory!" Sunny screamed as she nearly tackled Glory in a tight hug. "By all the moons I missed you!"

Glory laughed and hugged her friend back as Fatespeaker helped Starflight land. "My goodness, Sunny! Look how big you are!" Glory exclaimed. Sunny was no longer had the little sister look that she'd always had, she was almost as big as Glory.

"I have so much to tell you!" Sunny practically yelled. However long it had been, Sunny still hadn't lost her hyperactive energy.

"Yeah, don't mind the blind guy over here," Starflight said with a smile, and Glory ran over and hugged him and Fatespeaker. 

"It's good to see you, too, Starflight," Glory said. "And Fatespeaker, good to see you're taking good care of my brother for me."

"I try," Fatespeaker joked. 

"Wait, wait," Glory said pulling away. "Where's the rest of us?"

"Clay and Peril are back at JMA, they are taking care of-" Starflight's eyes flashed behind Glory for a moment. "the students."

Glory turned around and saw Sunny sitting innocently, and raised an eye ridge. "Anyway!" Fatesepaker said. "As Sunny said, we have a lot to tell you, but first, you need to tell us!"

"Yes!" Sunny agreed. "Don't leave anything out!"


	6. Lightning Is Mean

Deathbringer hated storms, not only were they extremely dangerous, but they were wet, cold, dangerous, and hard to navigate in... Did I mention dangerous? The rain kept beating down onto Deathbringer as if he had personally insulted it. Also, I should probably mention that this storm was feeling very zappy on this specific day. Lightning was becoming increasingly frequent and was beginning to feel too close for comfort. Did I mention that it was dangerous? 

But if it meant keeping Glory safe... Well, that's all that matters.

"Look at you," he scoffed at himself. "Sounding like a romantic."

It came to Deathbringer quickly (though still not as soon as he'd have liked) that he had no idea where the search party was, or what they were searching for. Where had they even started? Deathbringer wondered, and hopelessness quickly filled him. Maybe his heroic adventure wasn't going to be so heroic after all.

That's when he heard a dragonet scream.

Deathbringer froze in the air and scanned his surroundings, searching for the source of the noise. His eyes finally caught two little flashes of green and he barreled towards it. It was a little girl, no more than a year old. The girl seemed to be a hybrid, a mixture of Nightwing, and Rainwing. Certain scales down her sides and on her joints were bright green but the rest of her stayed black. The dragonet was looking up at something, though Deathbringer couldn't see what due to the rain.

"Hey!" He yelled to be heard over the pounding rain and claps of thunder. The little girl remained motionless, her eyes unfocused, so he went over to her and placed a talon on her shoulder, causing her to jump but not look away.

"I work with the queen," he says. "We need to get you home."

The dragonet raises her arm to point a tree about a meter away, not taking her eyes off of it. Deathbringer looked but the night was too dark to see anything. Until the lightning flashed once more, and he saw what the girl had been looking at. There was a Rainwing tied against the tree by thin metal ropes, blood spilling from the many many MANY MANY cuts all over his body. So much so that it made Deathbringer wonder if the dark puddles around them were really water. They were deep gashes in every place except for the ones where stabbing him there would be lethal, which means whoever murdered this dragon was trying to make his death as long and painful as possible. It made Deathbringer sick to his stomach, and he turned the dragonet's head away from the sight.

How long had this girl been staring? Minutes? Hours? Did she watch the dragon die? A million questions came to his mind but he didn't get any answers.

"Everything ok over there?" a loud booming voice had no problem cutting through the sound of the rain. Deathbringer knew that voice, and the dragon connected to it revealed himself seconds later, along with 3 other companions.

"Whisper," Deathbringer sighed in relief, glad to have his friend near him. Whisper had been one of those names that suited him at hatching but he eventually grew out of. As a hatchling, Whisper was skinny and weak and could barely muster a squeak here-and-there, but as he got older, though his body was still relatively small, his voice was that of a god. They had met during a party Queen Glory had hosted, and had been good friends ever since.

Whisper was accompanied by another and two Rainwings, all of which were bigger than him but seemed to follow his lead. "Deathbringer!" Whisper said with a warm smile, but then his eyes caught the dragon on the tree and his smile disappeared. "Oh my..."

"You guys need to get back to the evacuation center!" Deathbringer warned them.

"There's another search party!" Whisper informed him. "We can't leave them out here!"

Deathbringer groaned, of course, there's a complication. "I'll get them! You guys get this girl to the evac center."

Whisper looked at Deathbringer worriedly before ordering the rest of the group. "Bring this girl to the evacuation center," Whisper ordered. "I'll join you in a minute."

The rest of the group nodded and took the girl from Deathbringer, saying soothing things, though it seemed to not affect her; the girl stared straight forward blankly, probably in shock. 

"I can't leave you out here to fend for yourself," Whisper said matter-of-factly. 

"You can't stay out here," Deathbringer warned him. "It's too dangerous."

"That wasn't a request," Whisper informed him, and Deathbringer smiled despite himself. "I bumped into them a few minutes before it all went down. Hopefully, they're still in the area."

Deathbringer nodded in acknowledgment, and Whisper launched into the air, leading Deathbringer to the spot he spoke of. 

Then, madness erupted.

The lightning, which had grown more and more frequent in the last few minutes, exploded. Millions of bolts of lightning fired off at once, forming a net-like shape in the sky and striking the ground rapidly. Soon, the center of the net began to cave in, creating a portal to a black abyss the size of the Skywing Palace. Deathbringer stared in awe, his minding jumping through hoops to figure out how this was possible, but he knew the answer; it wasn't. From the center of the hole, shot a flash of white that slammed into the forest somewhere before it started to close up. Well that was anticlimactic, Deathbringer thought, but once it had mostly closed, open only about the radius of a dragon stretched head to tail, a flaming black substance shot out last minute.

This one landed directly onto Deathbringer. The fireball was impossibly cold and quickly wrapped around him like the world's worst blanket.

"Deathbringer!" Whisper exclaimed as he saw his friend being enveloped by this black substance. The Nightwing yelled in pain as whatever latched onto him ate away at his scales, seemingly burning them off.

Then, he was struck by lightning and it all went away.

The sounds of the world washed away like a wave crashing onto the beach, and the burning and fatigue and even that annoying itch fell away; it left Deathbringer in a state of pure bliss as he barreled down towards the earth. Maybe Whisper was yelling his name, maybe Deathbringer had already died; he didn't know, and he thought that maybe he didn't need to know.

It's funny, really. Deathbringer might've died there, and he would've been content with it; but as they say, strike me once, I die peacefully, strike me twice, I'm going out swinging...

He was struck a second time. 

All of the peaceful bliss that had existed moments prior vanished in an instant and he was thrown back into his burning, tired, dying body. His ears rang painfully, and he saw Whisper diving towards him. For a moment, Deathbringer had forgotten that he was about to die. Inevitably, he reached the ground and his entire body erupted with pain. He would've screamed if there was an ounce of moisture left in his body. Instead, he just convulsed on the ground like an epileptic.

And because there was nothing else he could do, he laid there, losing blood, and uttering one last word before he fainted. "Glory," he croaked, he wanted to be with her. He wanted to hug her close and wait for this freak storm out. 

"You're going to be ok!" Whisper promised him, but his promise was blatantly empty. "Just try to stay calm... Uhm... err... We'll get some help!"

Was this how he died? Struck by lightning? He managed to chuckle, of all things. It wasn't the death he or his mother expected. They always guessed he would die because he did something stupid on a mission. He never thought he would die in a storm, having saved a child, and on his way to save more dragons. Would Deathbringer, the dragon born to be irredeemable, die a hero, of all things? 

All of these thoughts ran through his head in just a few seconds before the dark blanket of death wrapped around and began to take him away. 

Then there was a voice, deep, dark, and confused. **"You...are...Compatible?"**


	7. The Aftermath

Glory paced back and forth impatiently in her room, casting condescending glares at the guards every few seconds. How long had it been? Minutes? Hours? It felt like hours. According to Glory's information, the search parties had all returned; so where was Deathbringer? Had something happened to him? Was the storm even still going on? Her windows were covered up by a wide wooden plank, and the guards hadn't allowed her to take them down.

A somewhat burly rainwing came into the room looking incredibly relieved. "The storm is gone," he sighed. "The numbers are still coming in, but so far we have 26 deaths and over 140 injured."

"That's insane," Glory thought out loud. How had there been so much damage? There were suddenly multiple distressed murmurs and conversations, and Glory hurried to see what the commotion was about; the guards were no longer concerned now that the storm was over. 

A lean nightwing was walking slowly through the crowd with his talons and face covered in blood; his eyes were wide and unfocused. Glory recognized him, he was one of Deathbringer's friends, the one that sounded like a narrator. She approached the dazed Nightwing cautiously. "Whisper," Glory whispered, too stressed to appreciate the irony. "Who's blood is that?"

He looked up at her. "There was nothing I could do for him..." Whisper replied distantly.

"Who?" Glory questioned worriedly, but at least she knew he hadn't killed someone.

"Deathbringer," he replied in a shaky voice, causing Glory's heart to drop.

"What happened?!" she questioned frantically. "Is he ok?!"

"He was struck by lightning," It was one of the only times Glory had seen him live up to his name, speaking so quietly and timidly that Glory had to strain her ears to listen. "He's in the hospital."

Glory ran past the Nightwing and towards the front entrance when a guard stepped into her way.

"It's too-" the guard tried to warn her, but Glory bared her teeth and growled.

"Move," she commanded. "I won't ask again."

Because the guard wanted to keep both of his eyes, he moved out of the way and allowed the queen to pass. Outside, the storm had taken its toll on the Kingdom. Many houses had caved in or were knocked off of the trees they were resting on. The sun time platforms took heavy damage, and trees were flipped onto their sides and resting on top of houses. The carnage was unfathomable.

I can fix that, Glory told herself to stay focused. Deathbringer is irreplaceable.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Deathbringer could hear voices, but he couldn't see them. He could hear the doctors talking about him, discussing possible solutions, asking about his injuries, and even saying that he was done for. He wanted to yell at them for even suggesting that the sexy beast that was Deathbringer could die. He tried to call out but his vocal cords refused to make a sound. He desperately needed some water, or milk, or anything to soothe the rocky wasteland that was his throat.

He couldn't feel anything, either. He couldn't move his wings, or wiggle his toes, or feel himself breathe. He was in a black, blissful void that offered nothing and took nothing... Now that he thought about it, blissful wasn't the correct word, because there were still things he found annoying; the right word was boring, it was boring being in that void.

What was that tingling?

It wasn't doing anything special, it was just there; so evenly distributed throughout his entire body that he barely even felt it... But he couldn't feel anything else, so how could he feel the tingling sensation?

And what about Whisper? Had the Nightwing made it out of the storm safely? 

"Dea-------er? Deathy ca- --- -ear me?"

Glory? Deathbringer forgot about everything else and focused on her voice, wanting to open his eyes and look at her, to hold her close and tell her it was alright, that everything would be fine; and then he'd say something stupid and make her roll her eyes. #relationshipgoals

"Isn't there anything you can do?" Glory's voice again.

"I'm sorry, we have tried everything." Deathbringer guessed it was a doctor. "But so far, he's completely unresponsive to outside stimuli.

 _IM HERE!_ He wanted to scream. _I'm here! I'm alive! Please! I want to be with you!_

 **So why don't you?** It was another voice, deep, dark, and somewhat sinister. Deathbringer was dropped into a new void. It was still an empty black void, however, in this one, Deathbringer had a body, but he didn't think it was his; this body was charred and broken and crumbling, though it moved just fine. This void also had a floor that felt as if it had a thin layer of water.

 **Hello** **Deathbringer** , the voice spoke again, this time coming from all directions. **I couldn't help but notice your little pathetic train of thought. It seems like you could use some help.**

 _How is this-?_ Deathbringer wondered, but his thought was cut short. 

**Possible?** the voice finished Deathbringer's sentence and chuckled. **It's one of the many abilities I've acquired over my lifespan, but we're not here to talk about me. You do want to see Glory again, don't you?**

 _Of course!_ Deathbringer yelled into the abyss.

**Of course, you do! The voice said charismatically. Glory is everything to you, she means the world to you, why wouldn't you want to see her again? But, to do so, I just need one thing from you.**

_I'll do anything,_ Deathbringer pleaded into the darkness.

 **Don't worry, it's not too hard,** The voice said slyly. **All I need you to do is promise that you'll eat well.**

Deathbringer thought for a moment, was that all? It didn't feel fair, moreover, it was too good to be true. Eat well? Wasn't that a little... vague?

 **Well, if you believe that this deal just isn't for you, I could always let you die.** The voice warned. **And the last thing you'd have done to Glory is locking her in a room. Not the best way to end a relationship.**

 _That's a cheap blow,_ Deathbringer thought with an eye roll, but inside half of him was screaming to take the deal, while his instincts were popping off, sending out danger signals. Why was he even worried? It was just a figment of his imagination, right?

 **I assure you,** **Deathbringer** **, I am very real,** the entity said in a defensive tone. 

_Alright,_ Deathbringer said smugly. _If you're real, then what are you?_

The voice was silent for a moment, as if deep in thought. **If you agree to this deal, then all will be revealed in time.**

 _That sounds like something someone not real would say,_ Deathbringer teased.

 **Whether I am real or fake is irrelevant at the moment,** the voice was now serious, obviously tired of Deathbringer's tomfoolery. **There is really no reason for you to turn down this deal. I am about to save you from death and all I am asking in exchange is that you stay healthy.**

 _Alright,_ Deathbringer finally accepted. He didn't know what this thing was, or how it all worked, but it was promising him a second chance; why wouldn't he take it. _I promise to... eat well, whatever that means._

**Pleasure doing business with you.**

The peaceful black void suddenly dropped away and Deathbringer was thrown into a land of fire, at least, that's how it felt. The light tingling that Deathbringer had felt earlier suddenly escalated into an intense burning sensation. His eyes shot open and he could see for the first time in hours, except it wasn't as pleasant as he'd thought it be. After living in darkness for hours, the sudden light scorched his eyes and he squinted them instantly. 

Deathbringer's senses all came back one by one, none of them as pleasant as they should've been. His hearing came back shortly after his sight, more sensitive than ever; he heard everything; countless heartbeats assaulted his ears, joined by conversations and even talon-steps. When his sense of smell returned, all he smelt of burning flesh, which he soon realized was his own scales. 

His sense of taste came next, filling his mouth with a bitter and salty taste. Then his sense of touch, which was the worst of them all. Every nerve in his body felt like it had been lit aflame, and why did his bones feel wet? But when the tears came to his eyes, not all of them were from pain; though, most of them were, some were still from his relief. He was alive! But why did it hurt so much?!

When he regained his ability to move, he gripped and clawed at the bedsheets in agony and yelled. He could speak! Though not coherently, all he could do was yell profanities in pain. 

Multiple doctors came into the room and attempted to hold Deathbringer down, but that only made the pain explode. The Nightwing yelled and shook them off, kicking one against the wall and throwing the other down with his wing. 

"Glory," he managed to croak, and attempted to get out of the bed, but fell to the floor.

"Deathbringer!" Glory yelled in surprise and anxiety, and it was at that moment that the pain finally became somewhat bearable. Glory ran to Deathbringer's side and helped him back onto the bed, but everywhere she touched caused the pain to intensified in that spot, and he yelled in pain.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly, pulling her talons away. "You have 3rd and 4th degree burns all over your body."

The doctors stood up, one of which gave Deathbringer a nasty look, but they both came to Deathbringer's side. Now that Deathbringer's eyes had adjusted he could finally see that he was in a green room with a cart to his left with different needles and bottles on the top, large bottles on the bottom, and different tubes and masks on the side. Glory sat next to Deathbringer and hung her head, "I can't believe you're ok!" Glory said shakily, and the Nightwing found a tear on her cheek; he brushed it off of her face with a smile.

"Is that for me?" Deathbringer tried his best to sound smug, but it just came out as a hoarse grumble.

"Of course it is!" She yelled angrily. "10 minutes ago they said you wouldn't make it. Now you're already causing trouble and giving me that stupid smirk!"

Deathbringer began to chuckle but stopped himself after he found it caused him immense pain. Really, everything he did hurt, even if just a little. Even his scales rubbing against one another as he moved caused pain. And his voice was terrible, dry like sand but deep like Whisper's... 

"Whisper!" Deathbringer suddenly remembered. "The storm!"

"Gone," Glory said, then saw the horrid expression on Deathbringer's face and corrected herself. "The storm! Not Whisper. He's really shaken, but fine."

Deathbringer sighed in relief. He rubbed his throat, again noticing how dry it was. "Can I get some water?"

"I've got it," one of the doctors said and left the room to get it. The other doctor was hooking up a tube to one of the large bottles, presumably containing some kind of gas. Deathbringer tried to read the small text on the side of the bottle but was unable to. Glory noticed Deathbringer's concern and looked over as well.

"What is that?" she asked, the doctor turned to her and smiled at her concern.

"Don't worry," he said genuinely. "It's just a sedative, it'll put him to sleep and ease the pain."

"I-I don't need a sedative," Deathbringer said, though he didn't know why he said it. His scales were still burning and he wanted to sleep, but something inside him was saying the opposite. 

"Unfortunately, it's not really an option. Your heart is beating somewhat fast and hard, so we're going to put you to sleep as a precaution, here," the doctors handed him a mask with a tube connected to the bottle. "I want you to put this around your snout and breathe deeply."

Deathbringer obeyed and put it up to his snout, at the same time, the doctor turned a knob on the bottle, and the mask slowly filled with gas. After several seconds, Deathbringer's head began to feel foggy as the sedatives took over his brain, trying to slowly force him into sleep. A moment later, he startled awake again as a rainwing stumbled into the room, out of breath.

"Queen Glory!" The Rainwing exclaimed. "I've been looking for you! A dragoness has arrived, she claims to be responsible for the storm!"  
  



	8. The Stranger

The dragons who had come to the palace to seek shelter had mostly cleared out, either going to the center to find their families or to the hospital to get their wounds treated. Glory delivered a statement in the palace to announce that she was going to work hard to fix everything, and answered some questions before heading out to meet the strange visitor. The meeting was going to be held in the courthouse since if this dragon truly was responsible for the storm, they were technically a terrorist, or, more optimistically, she would only be charged with almost a hundred counts of dragon slaughter.

After several minutes, the defendant arrived, accompanied by 2 guards. The dragon was a hybrid of sorts; they seemed to be primarily icewing with mostly white scales, but also some of the orange scales on her joints and the wide wings of a Skywing. The dragon stood tall and proud, her elongated kneck allowing Glory to see that the dragon had small text tattooed into the side of her neck. L-01.

"So," the dragon said impatiently. "Are we going to begin, or you just gonna sit there changing colors?"

"How did you start the storm?" Glory questioned. Who does this dragon think she is?

"I didn't actually start it, it was really... What did he want me to call him? Dangit I always forget these things...."

Glory couldn't help the bits of red appearing on her scales. "Don't play games with me."

"Hold on," the hybrid said with a frustrated look on her face. "Omniverse! Yes! Sorry about that, Omniverse is the one who started the storm. And he told me to come here and talk to you."

"About what exactly?"

"Ragnorak," the hybrid said seriously. "The end of life in this dimension as you know it."

Glory couldn't stop her own confusion appearing on her scales. Was this some kind of joke? Some kind of prank?

"I know how it sounds," the hybrid admitted. "But this is serious. I know it sounds farfetched, but I'm an elite warrior, and I know of some very dangerous individuals will stop at nothing until they've destroyed all life in this dimension."

"And you are?"

"You can call me Rogue," the visitor said slyly as if she was so proud of her name. The other guards seemed to share the queen's confusion, the Rainwing's scales slowly turning orange-purple.

"Ok, Rogue," Glory spoke after a moment of silence. "You say that your friend caused the storm, correct?"

"Yes, but not on purpose," Rogue admitted.

"Are you aware that this storm killed many dragons and injured more?"

"Yes, but again, it was out of our control," the hybrid said, clearly annoyed with the queen's insistent questioning.

"You have still not told me how the storm was caused."

"There was a fault in our... methods," Rogue spoke carefully. "We thought that it wouldn't be a huge issue but it was."

"That's vague," Glory observed.

"It has to be," Rogue informed her ominously. "Or bad things could happen."

"Is that a threat?"

"NO!" Rogue yelled exasperatedly, then stopped and took a deep breath. The hybrid then began muttering something in a language unlike anything in the history books. "Nikolo Vacana Nane Chisbaska!"

"Ok," Glory said, done with Rogue's games. "Allow me to get this straightened out. Your friend, by methods you cannot disclose, caused a storm that killed nearly a hundred dragons and injured even more, and you are an accomplice. Am I correct so far?"

"Mostly."

"I do not believe you," Glory said. "No dragon can cause a storm, especially not one that big, unless they are an animus. And if I were to find out that you possess an unregistered animus and are using them to cause chaos within tribes, both you and they will be arrested."

Rogue glared at Glory, and Glory glared back. Rogue suddenly broke eye contact and took multiple deep breaths, muttering something to herself in the same foreign language as before. "Look," Rogue said in a voice similar to the one Glory used whenever she was trying not to yell. "You're in danger, everyone is. My team and I can help you."

"This Omniverse, he's your leader?"

"No," Rogue said, still quiet. "Our leader is Omnipotence, but he's out dealing with queens that aren't being difficult."

"It would be wise if you watched your tone."

"You know what?!" Rogue said, her calm quickly turning into intense hostility. "No, it wouldn't. I tried being nice but that didn't get the information through your thick skull! So let me try again. My name is Rogue, I'm a badass, and if you don't shut up and listen to what I have been told to say I'm going to lose it! Niet viey tada mogu migi eto isa visavada!"

Rogue panted lightly, and Glory watched her. She's just like Tsunami, Glory realized, making her dislike this stranger even more.

"You know what? Screw it! He can deal with this," Rogue turned to leave, but one of the guards stood in her way. Before he was even all the way in front of her, Rogue swept his talons from under him and bumped him away. The other guards tried to intervene, but Glory stopped them.

"Let her go," she commanded as Rogue continued to leave at her own, leisurely pace. "I want to meet this leader she speaks of."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the courtroom incident, Glory returned to the hospital, only to find that Deathbringer was sound asleep, being overlooked by a young Rainwing. As soon as Glory stepped in, the girl's eyes widened. "Moons above!" the Rainwing exclaimed. "You're Queen Glory! Um... H-hi! My name is Paradise, and I was put in charge of monitoring Deathbringer's vitals while he's under anesthetics."

"Hello," Glory said regally. She couldn't help but smile at how flustered the dragonet got when she entered the room.

"My mentor went to the bathroom but he'll be back any minute now," Paradise said with a nervous chuckle, then retreated into a corner silently. They stood in silence for a moment before she spoke again. "So what happened to him?"

"I'm told he was struck by lightning," Glory said, and the nurse looked at her in awe.

"That's... Not possible."

"What do you mean?" Glory looked up at the young rainwing, who was looking at the queen with wide eyes. Paradise looked down for a moment as if deciding which cake she wanted, before looking back up at Glory to speak.

"Dragons struck by lightning... they don't make it," Paradise explained. "Look, I paid attention in biology --how else would I be here?--, and dragons can take approximately 1000 ohms of electricity before entering cardiac arrest. Of course, we can't confirm this exact number because we can't exactly shock dragons until they die... for obvious reasons, but it has held for all the cases we've encountered."

"But that doesn't automatically mean that Deathbringer is going to die, right?" Glory questioned worriedly. After all that had happened, she didn't want him to die on her now. "There must be exceptions to this, right?"

"Well, yes, there are some," Paradise admitted. "Some dragons who are shocked just above that thresh hold do sometimes survive at the most another 19 years... But the point is, Deathbringer wasn't just above the thresh hold. My Queen, a single lightning bolt carries well over a billion volts."

Glory looked at Deathbringer, who was sleeping peacefully. Deathbringer had always had a knack for surviving things he wasn't supposed to, but this? He should be dead 1,000,000 times over... But he's not, the emotional side of Glory told her. Why won't everyone see that's important?

A groan cut off Glory's thoughts as Deathbringer groggily opened his eyes. Paradise looked around frantically, obviously unsure what to do. "Uhm... Go back to sleep, Deathbringer, it's... ok?"

"Very convincing," Deathbringer said tiredly, causing Paradise to give an exasperated sigh.

"I don't know!" she whispered. "You're supposed to be asleep for another eight hours! Where is he?!"

"Hey Glory," Deathbringer said, taking her talon into his. "How's it going?"

"Absolutely atrocious," the queen admitted. "And personally, I think it's all your fault."

"Me?" Deathbringer said jokingly, but so quiet you could barely hear a thing. "You're the one who sent the search party!"

"You're the one who had to be all heroic," Glory argued, and Paradise shushed her.

"Deathbringer," Paradise said, "how are you feeling?"

"On the brink of death," Deathbringer said jokingly, then responded seriously when he saw Paradise's look. "I'm fine, tired, though."

"You should be a tad more than tired," Paradise remarked. "Try to go back to sleep, let your body heal."

"So Glory," Deathbringer said, completely ignoring Paradise. "How's it been running Kingdom without me?"

"Excuse me, it's not like you helped in any way," Glory remarked, and Paradise sighed in exasperation.

"Where is he?!" the young rainwing cursed under her breathe, obviously panicking without her mentor there to guide her.

"This really doesn't bode well for my career," Deathbringer commented. "How am I supposed to protect you while I'm in here?"

Glory knew that she didn't need his protection but part of her liked having him there, and didn't think that she could sleep without him nearby; even if she found it unsettling how he rarely slept.

"Would it be possible to have Deathbringer moved into my room?" Glory asked, causing Paradise to shrug her shoulders.

"You're asking the wrong dragon," Paradise said with a sigh, then her ear flicked up. "Speaking of..."

A Nightwing came into the room with a tired look on his face, his eyes half-closed before shooting open at the sight of the queen.

"You have the worst timing I've ever seen in a dragon!" Paradise snarled, punching the dragon softly in the shoulder; the other dragon didn't react, just stared wide-eyed at the queen.

"I was just asking your apprentice here if it would be possible to move Deathbringer's bed into my quarters?"

"She can't sleep unless she knows I'm close by, protecting her," Deathbringer explained with a smirk. The nightwing still said nothing, simply staring at the queen in the room he was assigned.

"Y-you should talk to the doctor," the Nightwing finally answered, looking at Paradise as if expecting answers but only received a shrug. "Umm, can I get you something?"

"No, I'm fine," Glory denied, politely. At this point, she was used to dragons being flabbergasted by her presence. "I was just here to check up on Deathbringer."

"Who is awake, by the way!" Paradise said, shooting her mentor an accusing look. The Nightwing thought for a moment.

"He'll probably be out in a few minutes," he explained. "This can happen sometimes, just let him get his rest naturally. But while you're awake, is there anything we can do to make you comfortable?"

"Water?" Deathbringer requested, and the Nightwing nodded.

"Alright, Paradise, go get him some water, please."

Paradise rolled her eyes at him but left the room, and came back shortly with some water, which Deathbringer accepted greedily. "You know," Deathbringer said after a moment. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and say I don't think I like being struck by lightning."


	9. The Creature

**_Fire._ **

**_Fire everywhere I turned. But this was no nightmare. Everywhere I turned, the destruction of another world stood. Which, would soon become a reality, if the plan continued to go well. The pieces were in place, and everything was going exactly as planned._ **

**_Mortals._ **

**_Such... Futile creations. Why did Cawthon keep them around? They are so naive, fragile, and just weak overall. And the Nightmares are always called out for destroying, but when mortals do it it's fine? Pathetic. Luckily, they would all be dead in a matter of years. It was slow, but it was the only way to be sure. Especially now that THEY were here now._ **

**_But no time to worry now. It's time for lunch. My old one got so soggy in the downpour last night, and then some little dragonet discovered it, who led that filthy Nightwing to it. By the time I even got back to it, the guards were already there to take it away._ **

**_But I guess that's actually a good thing since now, I've placed a few new... Surveillance items on Deathbringer, and now have a new lunch. A few, actually, that, despite their name, were much less rained on than the other._ **

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Glory had spoken to the doctor, asking to have Deathbringer moved to her room, and they said that because he was doing so well they didn't see much of a problem with it. During the process, Whisper came to visit.

"My moons!" Whisper said when he saw the Nightwing and embraced him in a tight hug.

"You're crushing me!" Deathbringer complained, but Whisper waited a moment before letting go.

"You stupid coal sniffer!" Whisper said quietly. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Yeah, you were the victim here," Deathbringer said but hugged his friend. "I'm ok, don't worry about me. I'm a survivor."

Whisper stayed with Deathbringer until they got to the royal chambers, in which case he left to get himself checked out since he did touch Deathbringer soon after he was struck, and might be suffering from minor electrocution or shock. By the time they made it in the room, it was late at night.

"Glory!" Sunny yelled, running up behind Glory. The rainwing had almost forgotten that her friends were here. "I heard what happened to Deathbringer, is he ok? Are you ok? What happened?"

"He's fine," Glory assured her. "The doctors say better than he should be."

Starflight and Fatespeaker (and I just want to make it known that just because Starspeaker is canon in this story DOES NOT mean I support it>:(!) followed close behind Sunny and asked Glory the same question, to which she gave the same answer.

"The doctors say he's fine enough to move into my room," Glory explained, and Sunny gave a covert wink to Fatespeaker. "How many times are you guys gonna do this?"

"Until we see little hybrids running up and down the palace halls!" Sunny said stubbornly, and Glory rolled her eyes.

"We should probably be heading back," Starflight said. "If this storm affected Jade Mountain too, we should be there to help out."

"But before we forget," Sunny interjected. "Have you heard from Tsunami?"

"No, why? She's not at Jade Mountain?"

"She went to visit Riptide about a week ago and never came back," Starflight explained. "According to them, she never arrived."

"Do you think she's ok?" Glory asked, concerned.

"You know Tsunami, I'm sure she'll turn up sooner or later," Fatespeaker said. So, they all said their farewells and left as Glory went to sleep. Deathbringer had been set up a few feet away from her bed and was already fast asleep. His scales were burnt up, charred, but somehow Glory could still imagine the old him. Not just before the storm, but the him that she met in the Ice Kingdom almost 8 years ago. She fell into a surprisingly peaceful slumber at the memory of his old, bold, dangerous eyes.

In the morning, Glory was awoken by a never-ending, single-noted beep. Glory tossed and turned at the sound before her eyes shot open and her head darted to Deathbringers bed, which was empty. The rainwing threw off her covers and flicked the light on, only to find that the nightwing was nowhere to be found.

"Deathbringer!" she called and opened the front door of her room. Outside, the storm had continued, red lightning cracked overhead. Glory called Deathbringer name again but received no response. A strange, scavenger creature big as a dragon stood in a clearing not too far from there. The creature had a glowing red crystal on his wrist, which he raised to the sky, causing the clouds to open up to a black hole. Then, with his malevolent green eyes, looked right at Glory and smiled before bringing his fist down to the ground, a lightning bolt crashing through the black hole and striking the ground. Glory was suddenly high in the sky, forced to watch as Pyrrhia was corrupted in one wave.

Glory woke in a cold sweat. It was early morning, and, despite it being a rainforest, there wasn't a cloud in sight. Guess they're all used up, Glory thought, remembering the storm last night. She would have to start some kind of relief program for those affected and make temporary housing for those who lost their until construction was back up and running.

Glory turned to find that Deathbringer was not in his bed, and before she could panic, he walked in through the door with a bag in his talons. He looked at Glory and smirked. "Rise and shine, sleepy wings, you have work to do."

"You should be in bed," Glory told him, and he scoffed.

"Well good to see you, too," he said sarcastically. "It's fine, I'm feeling better today. In fact, so much better than I have the confidence to do this."

Deathbringer yanked all of Glory's blankets off of her at once, making her groan. "I liked you better charred."

Deathbringer laughed, and that's when Glory noticed that his scales... they were healed. Not completely but they had improved by days, maybe a week just overnight. "Where did you go, exactly?" Glory asked, wondering if he had gotten some outside help with his healing.

"That reminds me," Deathbringer said, placing the bag on Glory's bed. "I picked these for you."

"You know you shouldn't be on this job," Glory said, though she accepted the fruits, which happened to be mangos, one of Glory's favorite fruits. "With the condition you're in, I could justify having you off the job permanently."

"Aww, you care about me," Deathbringer teased.

"Nope, just don't want an incompetent bodyguard killing me and himself."

"I don't think you could get me off the job if you tried."

"I'm sorry, who's the acid-spitting Rainwing queen?"

"And who's the deadly assassin who lives up to their name?"

"And who is burnt to a crisp right now?"

Deathbringer thought for a moment, then smirked. "Touche."

Glory gave her own triumphant smirk and grabbed a few more mangos before handing the bag back to Deathbringer. "I already ate," he informed her, pushing the bag back towards her.

"Where exactly did you go last night?" Glory asked again, and this time, she saw some kind of fear in his eyes, though it was only for a moment.

"I went to pick the fruit," he said, then smirked. "What? Did you miss me?"

"Well, I admit I was slightly worried that the dragon struck by lightning a day ago was running around causing trouble," Glory retorted.

"Well, my apologies for going to stretch my legs after being injured," Deathbringer said sarcastically. Somebody knocked on the door urgently. Glory invited them in, and a Nightwing came into the room.

"Queen Glory," he said, obviously stressed. "A member of the search party from last night just came in... They say they were attacked... I think you'll want to hear this."

"Deathbringer," Glory commanded. "You stay here."

"What?!" Deathbringer exclaimed, jumping to his talons. "I can't stay here! Danger is afoot!"

"You cannot fulfill the duties of being my bodyguard in your current condition!" Glory said, automatically switching to her queen voice.

"Then at least let me assign some guards to you," Deathbringer begged, and Glory agreed.

When Deathbringer said "some guards," Glory didn't know he meant every Rainwing and Nightwing in the rainforest. He assigned a total of almost 20 guards to her, most of which were invisible and pack killing darts. Deathbringer claimed that it was almost as much protection as he could provide.

Glory and Deathbringer said their goodbyes (and gave their smirks😏) and left. Deathbringer heading back to the room, and Glory attending her business. When Deathbringer was left alone, he did trivial things. He cleaned a bit, organized the cabinets, cleaned again, made the bed, slept, decorated with some flowers, cleaned again until he couldn't put it off anymore.

He needed to know what he did last night. He had gone to get fruit late last night after he had woken up and was unable to fall back asleep. He remembered being really hungry and then flying, but the rest was a blur. Had he attacked the search party? Killed them, even?

Deathbringer laid on the hammock, and closed his eyes, thinking back...

Deathbringer had been in the forest, collecting the fruits. He had collected a lot, but then he had suddenly found himself overcome by an intense yearning, a lust for something. He had been so surprised by how sudden and strong it was, he had doubled over in pain.

"You have not been eating well," a voice had told him. There had been a pounding -starting low but growing in volume slowly-, and he quickly realized that it was a heartbeat. He was all too familiar with the sound. A quick check had confirmed that it wasn't his own heartbeat. His own heart had been pounding in his chest and hadn't match the one he was hearing.

Deathbringer had felt the yearning become stronger, and began walking. He didn't quite know how he had known where he was going. Maybe it had been the heartbeat, cause it seemed to get louder with each step...

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

A burning sensation arose, and Deathbringer leaped into the air and began flying swiftly towards where his instincts were leading him. Unlike most times, he didn't even notice the landscape below him -he was too focused. Deathbringer convinced himself he was in control, but even he secretly knew that he had no say in what his next move was. That was all up to the creature that had promised him he could see Glory again.

Deathbringer didn't notice he was being followed(How could he? He had been too overcome by a hunger to notice the 3 dragons -2 hybrids and a Nightwing-, who were trailing him. But, we'll get to those guys later). It was only when one of the hybrids had yelled out to get the attention of the other 2, that Deathbringer noticed he was being tracked. He continued to fly straight, acting as if he had no idea but kept sneaking glances back at the trio in the sky. Soon, two of the three flew away, just leaving the Nightwing high above Deathbringer. When he was sure the others were too far away to notice, Deathbringer vaulted upwards, smashing into the Nightwing underbelly. He grabbed the mystery Nightwing's wing and tugged him so that Deathbringer was on top and he allowed them to fall.

By some strange magic, the mystery Nightwing somehow ended up behind Deathbringer, making the assassin hit the ground first. Deathbringer recovered quickly and threw the other Nightwing to the ground before sitting on top of him.

"Who are you?!" Deathbringer demanded. "And why were you following me?!"

The other Nightwing only looked at Deathbringer, with a scared looked on his face but a thoughtful one in his eyes, or eye, as the Nightwing only had a right eye; the other was replaced by an unnatural red scar. The look he gave the assassin was curious as to if Deathbringer was some strange species he had never seen. But he didn't respond. Deathbringer placed his claws on the Nightwing's throat.

"Do you hear me?" Deathbringer demanded again, this time, the strange Nightwing swallowed and then spoke.

"I am here to protect you," he said sagely, at least as much as he could with talons pressed to his throat.

"What makes you think I need protecting?"

"The creature making you do this right now." The Nightwing spoke so calmly and knowingly like he was possessed great knowledge about every word in the sentence he spoke. "I know many people who would kill for it, and a lot of people it will kill. I'm trying to protect your family."

For just a moment, Deathbringer listened, losing the killer instinct he had just seconds ago. But it was only for one moment, as in the next, Deathbringer matched the heartbeat he heard with the one he felt on the dragon's neck. They matched, and the assassin had the inexplicable urge to end it --the pounding that was now deafening-- and started to tighten his grip.

The nightwing must have sensed this because he began to struggle. Deathbringer brought both talons down to grip the nightwings neck as he tried unsuccessfully to punch Deathbringer off of him. The nightwing made a questionable change in tactics, instead of pulling Deathbringer's head close to his.

"Sorry about this," the Nightwing muttered, before sending Deathbringer flying into a tree with a blast of red energy, making his burns explode with new pain and start bleeding again. In a flash, the Nightwing dashed into the trees, getting only a few feet before Deathbringer lunges down on him from above. Without looking back, nightwing seems to sense this, somehow, and dodges to the left, sending Deathbringer tumbling. He wasn't sure if the burning he felt was from his scars or the creature. The assassin stood up, coming face to face with the other nightwing only about 10 meters away.

"I don't want to fight you," the dragon said, no longer sounding noble, but scared. "But I will if I must."

But Deathbringer couldn't hear him very well, all he heard was the deafening pounding in his ears as the burning grew. **Kill him.** The voice in his head boomed, much louder and demonic but somehow seductive.

I'm not killing another dragon, he tried to tell either himself or the creature. I'm different from how I was then.

As soon as he thought that, the burning intensified as if he was being struck by lightning a 3rd time. The other Nightwing tried to take a step forward, saying something about helping, but Deathbringer roared making him take a step back.

A thick black liquid began to seep through Deathbringer's scales and started to wrap around his body. The other Nightwing's eyes widened as he began to suck in air, preparing a fireball. With an impossible burst of speed, Deathbringer prepared his own fire, which erupted out of his mouth as blue flames. The black mass had moved fast and almost finished wrapping Deathbringer's entire body inside of its grasp. He let out a crazed, animalistic roar as the black mass moved up his neck, then outward, then clamp down on Deathbringer's face. Cutting the roar short.

It was deadly silent.

Both Nightwings stood unmoving. Both breathed heavily. Until IT looked back up, Deathbringer's burnt face replaced by a hellish mass with.......

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Something opened Deathbringer's eyes, pulling him from the flashback.

 **Stop,** the voice commanded. It was the voice from his dream, the voice from last night.

"I need to know what happened that night," Deathbringer said out loud.

 **You didn't attack those Rainwings,** the creature told Deathbringer as if that would make him give up completely.

"But I hurt someone, I can feel it. That's why you're keeping me from the truth," Deathbringer accused, and the creature didn't respond, letting him know that he had won the battle. Now to win the war. "You can't keep it from me forever!"

However, this was the wrong thing to say. Deathbringer's wing was twisted painfully behind his back, forcing him to the floor.

 **Are you stupid or are you dumb?** the voice said sassily. **Maybe you didn't get the memo. Hi, I'm in control here.**

"Hi, in control, I'm Deathbringer," Deathbringer retorted. Again, the wrong thing to say. The Nightwing felt something inside him shut off, and he lost control of his limbs. He fell to the floor, with no power to stop or slow his descent. He gasped, finding it difficult to breathe.

 **Do you feel that?** the voice asked teasingly. **That, my friend, is the feeling of having your heart stopped. You are mine! You belong to me! You are powerless against me! You are nothing without me!**

"Says the person too socially awkward to show his face," Deathbringer croaked, and his heart resumed beating, but he stayed on the floor. A thick, black liquid seeped from Deathbringer's scales, onto the floor, then slid across the floor gradually; the way it moved faintly resembling a caterpillar. It was collected in front of Deathbringer, into the shape of a dragon. Deathbringer's eyes widened and he tried to yell, but only a small croak came out, leaving him breathless. The creature was only the shape of a dragon, but it was not solid. The black mass shifted and moved around, while still keeping the same shape. The creature laughed, somehow, even though Deathbringer guessed it didn't have anything solid in it, especially not vocal cords.

"What are you?" Deathbringer asked.

Part of the creature solidified and shifted, so that half was the mass, and half looked exactly like Deathbringer. Both sides smiled in unison. And he spoke, with a real voice, not in Deathbringer's head. But that wasn't comforting.

It uttered 3 words.

**"WE ARE VENOM."**


	10. Briefing

The messenger brought Glory to the hospital, explaining that a rainwing guard had come in with scars from a blade-like weapon, claiming that his search party had been murdered by the fox-creature. Glory had met the rainwing, Guava, who seemed frantic. Glory authorized the police to perform an investigation and was then intercepted by another guard to inform her that a visitor who claimed to be an associate of Rogue was waiting for her. 

He led Glory to a spot in the forest where a nightwing was waiting, but it was no normal nightwing. This nightwing not only had an eye missing, replaced by an unnatural red scar, but the lining of his wings was also the same red. 

"He's been asking for you ever since he got here," the Rainwing guard informed her. "Refused to answer any questions until he spoke with the queen."

Glory sighed and stepped closer to the nightwing who looked at her with knowing, yet timid eyes.

"Hello," she greeted. "I am-"

"Queen Glory of the Rainwings. Dragonet of Destiny. Hatched on the 312th recorded brightest night. That was right, wasn't it? I didn't have much time to do my research, as our entry was somewhat rushed.

Glory was taken aback. How could this dragon know so much about her? Had he been stalking her? Watching her since the day she was hatched.

"I'm gonna get straight to the point," he said, obviously trying to sound authoritative. "My name is Omniverse. You've already met my... co-worker. The hybrid."

So, Glory thought. You're here because she failed? Failed to convince me to hand over my kingdom, so you came with more empty threats.

"I am not going to hand over my kingdom to you," Glory said finally.

"I believe that she may have relayed our deeds in an unflattering manner," the nightwing explained politely, and Glory had to admit that she was already enjoying his company more than the other hybrid. "I apologize for the inconvenience, but you must understand that it is a stressful time for all of us, and she was simply acting impulsively."

"Just tell me what you need, and we'll make a deal," Glory offered, and the Nightwing nodded.

"While my associate explained it as full control over your kingdom, it would be more accurate to state that we require the ability to make executive decisions regarding your kingdom, should we have to evacuate, or if we ask you to hold back your military."

"Who's we?"

"I'm with a group of 2 other dragons, we go across the world protecting dragons from otherworldly creatures. And we recognize this kind of scenario. You are experiencing terrorization from a Class 9 Nightmare Entity, known as Twisted. I will not bore you with the details, but he is a powerful entity with an insatiable thirst for destruction. We believe that a member of the klyntaar race is also present."

"Could you elaborate on Klyntaar?"

"Of course, this Klyntaar is an incredibly complex and powerful creature. It first sends its strain out to weaken its opponents; which we were successfully able to extinguish before it got out of hand. Then, a few months or years later, the master arrives. It takes a host body, giving the host strange symptoms and abilities. Such as Insomnia, strange cravings, manic episodes, increased appetite, incredible healing factor, aggression, violent outbursts, etc. The symptoms become worse and worse as the creature slowly but violently takes control over the host's mind. Unless, of course..."

"Unless what?"

"It's not important, too unlikely. The point is, that this thing is very dangerous. I know that the storm hit the Rainwing village the hardest, so by logic, someone in the Rainwing village, or somewhere else in the world, is not who they say they are. Do you anyone who was affected in a... Strange way?"

Glory definitely knew someone like that. He was big, handsome, obnoxious and his name rhymes with... Heth... Tingler? But something told her that this dragon shouldn't know that. That, if she told this strange nightwing about Deathbringer, he wouldn't be there when she got home.

"No," she said. "But I can have my guards look into it."

Glory knew that the Nightwing knew she was lying. She could practically feel him inside of her head, searching through Glory's thoughts. She was so uncomfortable, she almost missed the long, ugly claw marks on his side. 

"Where'd you get the scratch?" Glory says suddenly. The Nightwing looks at the scar and paused as if to think, then chuckled lightly.

"My co-worker is a bit moodier than you think," he says. "What you saw was her on restraints."

Glory should have believed him --she had met this co-worker he spoke of-- but he had a strange feeling to him. The way he spoke was a bit too knowledgeable and reminded her of Blister a bit too much. Deviously clever, like how the way he so was careful not to reveal his friend's name, and he waited until he spoke. As if he was planning every word carefully. But he also reminded Glory of Starflight and Clay. Then, she had a frightening thought. 

If he really did know this much about her, stuff even she didn't, who's to say he doesn't know about her friends? And if he knows here friends, who is to say he doesn't know how to replicate their behavior? If he really is like Blister, he will not stop at control. Suddenly, Glory stopped herself. Wow, she thought. I really am on edge. She shrugged her own worries off and went back to addressing the Nightwing.

"Are you the leader of your group?" Glory asked, and the Nightwing chuckled.

"Of course not, I probably couldn't lead anyone if I tried. To be honest, we've never really established a leader. It usually depends on the mission, and whoever knows more about it takes up that role. But it's usually my best friend, Omnipotent."

Glory noticed how the word labored out of his mouth as if he didn't usually say it, though, she didn't know why she noticed it.

"Could I speak to him?" Glory asked, shaking it off, but the Nightwing shook his head.

"He's trying to gain control of another tribe."

"Why do you need control of multiple tribes?"

The Nightwing looked at her incredulously. "This isn't an isolated event, it's worldwide. I'm in charge of gaining control of the Nightwings and Rainwings, my best friend is getting the Sandwing's and Icewings, and the one you met earlier has been reassigned and is now in charge of getting the Mudwing's, Skywing's and Seawing's."

"What about the academy?" Glory asked. 

"The academy is already on our side."

That didn't make any sense. I spoke to her friends just yesterday. Had they left that part out? No, this Nightwing was keeping something from her, and she had to figure it out. Stop being so paranoid, She scolded herself. He's trying to help you! She suddenly thought about what Deathbringer would say. He would probably find a way to agree with her that would sound like arguing. 

"So," he says. "Do we have a deal?"

Glory ought again for a second. Does she really trust this dragon? She needed a bit of time. "I'll think about it, and will have my answer in 5 days."

The Nightwing smiles friendlily, "that is agreeable."

"Would you like a place to stay? We have plenty of-"

"As generous as that is, I must rendezvous with my team."

"Do you think I could meet them?"

"No, if I bring guest's I will not make it on time."

"Understood," Glory said, but she didn't understand. Did this dragon possess some secret flying knowledge that she didn't? But she kept that to herself and allowed the dragon to leave. 

I should probably check the seer's organization, Glory thought. Ever since they had discovered that nightwing powers were affected by the moons, those born with powerful seer abilities were selected to work for the queen, documenting any significant events that were likely to happen in the future. 

That can wait, Glory thought, she had to get back to Deathbringer. He had been home the entire day alone, and though Glory had told them to check on him now and then, she just had to make sure. Besides, as far as she knew, there was nothing left to do. 

Of course... the queen was never done with work... 3 police officers found her and pulled her aside. 

"We investigated the Rainwing," the officer explained. "Turned out to be a false alarm, he was high on some mushrooms. Just thought I should let you know."

Glory thanked the police for their work, then continued on her way home. When she finally arrived home, Deathbringer was laying on the floor, motionless.

"Deathbringer," she said, growing nervous. However, there was no answer; the Nightwing remained immobile on the floor.

"Deathbringer?!" She asked again, with much more urgency than before. Again, there was no answer. Glory ran over to him and began shaking him awake desperately. "Deathbringer?!"

"What! What!" Deathbringer startled awake, jumping up. "What is it? Are you ok?"

"You scared the scales off of me!" Glory scolded, a bit louder than she meant to. "I come back from a long day to see you laying there, not responsive! I thought you were dead!"

He scoffed. "Well excuse me for getting some rest, something you told me to do!"

Glory, though she would never admit it, suddenly felt guilty for exploding on him. He had been struck by lightning only a few days ago. And she had told him to get some rest. But didn't she mention any of that? 

"So, what happened today?" he said, stretching. He had this tired look in his eyes as if he had been hard at work. "Tell me everything." And Glory knew that it was her imagination, but...

Was that hostility in his voice?


	11. Eat Well

It was just past midnight when Venom decided to take Deathbringer on a joyride. He pulled the nightwing from the bed and forced him clumsily down the hall, shooting out black tendrils to pull them along whenever Deathbringer resisted too much. By the time they were out of the palace and in the air, Deathbringer had completely given up on resisting and decided that it'd be best for his health if he just went along with the symbiote's plan. 

**That was a nice dream,** Venom said as if to break the awkward silence. Deathbringer ignored the symbiote, though he had to admit he agreed. In the dream, he had been the hero in his favorite comic from when he was younger, The Dark Knightwing Rises, and was beating up the bad guys. Though looking back, it felt quite embarrassing that a grown dragon such as himself was having dreams a dragonet would have. 

**Don't be embarrassed,** Venom said teasingly. **It makes it too fun for me.**

"Where are we going, anyway?" Deathbringer asked impatiently. They had been flying for quite a while. He had to admit that he usually enjoyed flying with Venom, flying much faster than a normal dragon would find physically possible; though he figured he'd enjoy it more if he wasn't a prisoner in his own body; but despite this, it was starting to get annoying.

 **Well if I told you, I wouldn't get to feel the utter and complete shock inside of you,** Venom explained, with a smirk that Deathbringer could _feel._ Deathbringer rolled his eyes and purposefully said some nasty things about Venom as loud as he could in his head. The symbiote only laughed.

Something back shot up from the ground, barreling at Deathbringer at a frightening speed. Frightening to Deathbringer, at least. However, Venom dodged with nothing but a minor annoyance. **I _bet_ I know who that is. **

Venom dropped down and landed with a thud on the dirt. Deathbringer noticed right away that the dirt here was rough, _dry_ even. Not just that, but it seemed almost brittle as if all of the things keeping it together had been sucked away. But Deathbringer didn't have much time to think about that as multiple strange creatures appeared from the trees. They were dragons (at least, they might have been at some point), but very different. For example, one dragon was a nightwing, his eyes replaced with a black void with a red dot in the middle, and his entire left cheek was torn away, revealing rotten gums and oversized, sharp teeth.

There were 4 "dragons" in total, 2 rainwings, a nightwing, and a sandwing, all with horrific features in different places; there was only one common factor: blacked-out, red eyes. 

"You're late," the nightwing said, his voice coarse and grainy. 

**" _You're_ empty-handed," **Venom retorted snarkily, and the dragon growled. **"In fact, you're _all_ empty-handed. Care to explain yourselves?"**

"We don't all have the luxury of hiding in plain sight!" the sandwing butted in. "Besides, it's much more dangerous now that the Cawthon is here."

 **"So you really have nothing?"** Venom asked incredulously. _Who is the Cawthon?_ Deathbringer wondered, but his question went unheard and unanswered. This seemed to strike a nerve with one of the rainwings, who stepped forward.

"Look, just because Twisted decided to give you a big role in this mission doesn't mean you're Mr. Bigshot, we all remember what happened," the rainwing gave a smug grin, and Deathbringer felt anger building up inside of him. Suddenly, a black tendril shot out and yanked the dragon towards Death-Venom, _It's Venom,_ Deathbringer reminded himself, who grabbed the dragon by the horns and twisted violently, snapping his neck.

 **"Anyone else wanna bring it up?"** Venom challenged, and Deathbringer reminded himself again that it was Venom who had done it, not himself. The other dragon shuffled backward. **"That's what I thought. And since you idiots failed to do your one job, I guess I'll have to feed myself."**

Venom unhinged Deathbringer's jaw and made him bite down on the body. The blood gushed into his mouth and onto his face, covering his snout in the thick red liquid. He ripped away, throwing his head back to devour the flesh, before going down for another bite. Deathbringer was helpless to do anything as he was forced to simply endure. The worst part was that he _didn't_ find the taste repulsive, in fact, he found it somewhat enjoyable.

After Venom decided he had made his point, he looked back up at the other creatures, who were looking at Venom in disgust, which only made the symbiote grin. 

"Twisted will be hearing about this," the other rainwing warned him. Venom scoffed. 

**"Is that supposed to scare me?"** Venom asked condescendingly, though Deathbringer could tell that Twisted, whoever he may be, still held some kind of weight for Venom. The other dragon shook their heads and walked away while Venom finished his meal.

"I am never doing that again," Deathbringer promised when they finished, causing the symbiote to laugh. 

**You think that you have a choice?** Venom asked, then barked a laugh. **You lost your right to choose the moment I latched onto you in that storm. Besides, you weren't eating well as you promised, so I decided to take matters into my own hands**

Deathbringer was yanked back into the air and they began their journey back to the palace. 

"What are you doing?" Deathbringer panicked. "I can't go back to the palace like this!"

Venom suddenly veered down, crashing the two into a river, before popping back out, leaving Deathbringer gasping. 

**You're such a baby,** Venom remarked with another chuckle. When they made it back to the palace, Glory was still sound asleep. To Deathbringer's horror, Venom slowly approached Glory's sleeping body. He examined the rainwing closely, marking which scales changed with colors and when. 

"Don't you dare," Deathbringer whispered, and Venom chuckled once again, which was _really_ starting to get on Deathbringer's nerves. 

**Relax, momma bear,** Venom told him. **She's too important to kill.**

Before Deathbringer could ask what that meant, Venom threw him onto the bed and put him to sleep, muttering something. He couldn't quite hear what he was saying, but he could make out one sentence. 

**Those damn Nightmares.**


	12. Encounter

Once again, Deathbringer had been left home alone with Venom. The symbiote had told Deathbringer that he had no orders today, so Deathbringer was in control for today as long as he didn't do anything to piss the symbiote off. However, following last night's events, Deathbringer had way too many questions to keep bottled up inside of him. 

"What are you, exactly?" Deathbringer asked, and the symbiote shrugged.

 **I could've sworn we've been over this already,** Venom stated. 

"Well, if you're regularly going to be taking my body on joyrides whenever you feel like it, I should at least know who you are," Deathbringer countered, and Venom sighed. 

**Fine,** Venom agreed. **I am Venom. A Class-03 Klyntaar, or symbiote if you prefer, and a member of the Nightmares. We feast on organs, and if we don't eat well enough, we are forced to consume the vital organs of our hosts. Happy?**

"Who are the Nightmares?" Deathbringer wondered. He remembered hearing that name before, but he couldn't put his claw on exactly where. 

**Your new employers,** Venom said in a way that told Deathbringer he wasn't going to get much more from that. 

"Is Twisted also a part of the Nightmares?" 

**Yeah, he's running the operation.**

"Why is everyone so afraid of him?"

**Cause they've heard the rumors of his power, of his strength.**

"What rumors?"

**Damn you sure ask a lot of questions, don't you?**

"Well, I-"

**I'm hungry, time to hunt.**

Deathbringer was thrown out of bed and out the open window as they flew at incredible speed. 

"Where are we going?!" Deathbringer shouted to be heard over the wind.

**You don't have to shout, I'm inside you, nitwit. And we're going to hunt some _big_ game. **

Deathbringer stared baffled as they left the coast behind and continued flying toward the endless sea. After what felt like forever, they finally came to a stop in the middle of the ocean, then dropped a couple of meters below the surface.

 **Listen, feel.** Venom told the nightwing, and Deathbringer listened. He abandoned his sense of sight and smell and allowed his other senses to take full control. He was more sensitive to... what was that? Vibrations? Some kind of sixth sense that allowed him to just _know_ where things were around him. 

**I'll let you figure it out from here,** Venom said as Deathbringer felt control return to him. Surprisingly, the nightwing found that he was not desperate for air, despite being underwater for more than a minute already. What did Venom want him to do exactly? He was swimming in an endless blue abyss, with nothing but water on all sides. The sheer size and depth of the ocean triggered some kind of anxiety, and Deathbringer couldn't focus.

Spiders.

A sensation of spiders crawling behind Deathbringer suddenly burst throughout his scales, and Deathbringer could somehow _see_ behind him without turning. He saw a shark that charged him, and nearly gasped; the shark was as big as him! He knew he didn't have the reaction time to save himself but he tried anyway. And then something strange happened... Deathbringer was _certain_ the shark would get him, but with a speed that wasn't his, he dodged out of the way, throwing himself several meters out of the way without meaning to; even the shark seemed to be confused before spinning around to attack again. 

**We got ourselves a fighter here!** Venom proclaimed, clearly enjoying the show. The same speed-up effect happened once again whenever the shark got too close. The nightwing tested it a couple of times, surely frustrating the shark, but allowing him to get used to what he experienced as a sudden slow of time.

The next time the shark came around, Deathbringer flipped above the shark and stabbed the shark with his claws. Well, he meant to just use his claws, but he underestimated his own strength and ended up putting his entire talon through its head, causing blood to spread across the water. Inside his head, Venom cheered and took control again, grabbing the corpse and bursting from the water. They eventually reached a small island, just big enough to fit 10 dragons bundled tightly. Venom landed, dropping the corpse and beginning to dig in immediately. Not 3 minutes later, only the skeleton remained. Venom relinquished control of Deathbringer and they collapsed to the floor to rest. 

**I haven't eaten that well in years,** Venom admitted. **Good job, Deathbringer. Maybe you're not totally useless after all.**

"What was that? How did I slow time like that?" Deathbringer asked. Venom scoffed.

 **I may be strong, but time manipulation is outside my ballpark,** Venom explained. **It's one of the many abilities I've picked up during my life. It's omnidirectional awareness, as well as enhanced reflexes.**

"Cool," Deathbringer admired. Despite having just eaten his weight in shark, while he wasn't hungry, he wasn't particularly full either.

 _Wait,_ Deathbringer's ear flicked up and he listened closely. There was a whistling... Not a dragon whistling but the kind when something flies through the air fast. It was far away, but quickly approaching. _There!_ A small blue projectile flying towards them. Despite the enhanced reflexes, the object flew too fast for Deathbringer to dodge; he got about halfway through the action before the object hit him, blowing a hole in the nightwing large enough to insert a scroll sideways into.

The pain only should've lasted one moment, as Deathbringer would be dead the next; but Venom wasn't going to let that happen. The wound healed over almost instantly, and though the pain left Deathbringer immobile, Venom instantly reacted, jumping into the water and swimming down at max speed.

 **Dammit, dammit, dammit!** Venom screamed in Deathbringer's head. **How'd they found us so fast?**

Venom swam down and down into the murky depths until they couldn't see a thing, then he kept going until even sound ceased to exist. **They won't be able to find us down here,** the symbiote assured him, his voice now but a whisper in Deathbringer's mind. The pressure down here was overwhelming and threatened to crush Deathbringer's very bones. They waited for a long time. 

There was a brief sound of something splashing into the water overhead, before a hard impact on Deathbringer's head. The nightwing was knocked even further down, the pressure increasing tremendously. The enemy quickly found him again, scraping his belly then kicking him even further down with tremendous strength.

 **Dammit! They're trying to crush us!** Venom realized, blindly maneuvering his body in an attempt to fight an enemy he couldn't see or hear. In an ironic twist, in this time of emergency, the _danger sense_ seemed to be taking a day off. 

Despite not being able to see them, Deathbringer could sense that whoever they were fighting was extremely skilled; they attacked with such speed and strength, and, despite having enhanced reflexes, whenever Venom swung where they had just attacked from, they were gone. Swimming up was not an option, as whenever they tried, their opponent would yank them back down and send them even further down. 

**They're going to run out of breath at some point,** Venom assured Deathbringer, though the nightwing still had no idea who this _she_ was. **Symbiotes don't need oxygen, but they're still a living thing.**

Even with this in mind, Deathbringer doubted that they would last that long. Venom was healing Deathbringer's wounds slower and slower, obviously growing tired from the mix of ice-cold water, overwhelming pressure, and never-ending barrage of attacks. 

Suddenly, another sharp pressure latched onto Deathbringer's hind legs as he received another punch to the throat. _Sharks,_ Deathbringer thought as he felt more of that pressure appear around his body. 

**They'll be distracted by the sharks, that's our cue!** Venom launched up to the surface. Light! It was faint but it was there, and it was getting brighter! As they reached the top, their attacker seized them once again; except now, Venom could see, and so could Deathbringer. Now, he could see that the dragon, though it was the shape of one, really wasn't a dragon at all; its scales were some kind of shiny, bluish silver metal alloy, and the only parts of his wings were the spines where the bones should be. A long blade protruded from one of his wrists, with a somewhat luminescent blue edge. It had a symbol etched into the material that Deathbringer couldn't make out.

 **A soldier of Cawthon?** Venom exclaimed in astonishment. The soldier shoves the blade deep into Deathbringer's chest, then pulls it to the side, nearly cutting Deathbringer in half. Finally being able to see his opponent, Venom punched the soldier square in the chest, knocking their enemy out of sight. They finally reached the surface and bolted towards the mainland, hoping that once they were around other dragons, the assassin would let up.

The assassin burst from the water again, and Venom's side. The symbiote screamed and turned, quickly receiving a hard punch to the snout. The symbiote was knocked back into the water as the soldier's front talons shifted and changed into unfamiliar mechanisms that shot bright blue energy that tore through Deathbringer and Venom and out the other side. 

**DAMMIT! He's gonna kill us!** Venom cursed, sending out tentacles to wrap around the soldier, but the blade reemerged and cut through them instantly. **Any ideas? Cause I'm out!**

Deathbringer analyzed their enemy as they maneuvered gracefully. However, he noticed that even though the movements were graceful, they were also somewhat rigid, obviously blocked by the armor or whatever it was. 

"We have to get close," Deathbringer decided. "Lock up his joints, that'll slow him down."

 **Here goes nothing,** Venom said, launching himself toward the soldier, who was obviously surprised by this change in tactics. The symbiote seized the soldier by the neck while simultaneously shooting out tentacles that wrapped around the soldier's joints before kicking him down and shooting upward, bursting from the surface and tearing toward the mainland. **I can't believe that actually worked!**

"Me neither," Deathbringer said honestly. They flew in silence until they reached the castle. Only a couple of minutes had passed, leaving them the rest of the day to recover. 

**You're really not as useless as you look,** Venom said, though there was something about it this time; a hint of genuine affection. But it was quickly replaced by the usual smugness. **Seriously, I don't see why Glory hasn't tapped that yet.  
**

"Don't even start," Deathbringer warned, getting into bed. His mind drifted back to the soldier's bright eyes. "Who was that?"

 **No idea,** Venom said. **All I know is that he was a soldier of Cawthon. Before you ask, they're a group made to oppose the Nightmares, and there are more like him. We have protection from them, though. We only got attacked because we were outside the safe zone.**

Deathbringer sighed. What was happening? His life was spiraling out of control with monsters and strange creatures at the wheel. Metal soldiers? Was that even possible? _Probably not,_ Deathbringer decided, realizing that it didn't matter what he thought; the only thing he could do was hang on for the ride. 


	13. Alternate

**_Some things you must know about me:  
1\. There are very few times in history, that something had happened, and I didn't predict it.  
2\. I do not die easily  
3\. I do not take well to traitors  
4\. Everything I say is relevant... So you best be paying attention._ **

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the next week, life continues relatively smoothly. It was difficult trying the put the kingdom back together after such a disastrous event, but luckily, everything went as planned. The only thing that isn't as it was supposed to be, was Deathbringer.

Ever since he was struck, he hadn't been the same. He'd been acting secretive, a bit hostile, and always really tired even though he was supposed to stay inside all day. He was starting to scare Glory. When she brought it up to him, he had brushed her off; saying it was just her imagination. As worrying as it had been, she had to consider that he _was_ struck by lightning; it makes sense that he'd act different after having a near-death experience. So, as much as it had pained her, he had continued doing her queenly duties.

On one particular day, she came back to the palace to find that Deathbringer was nowhere to be found. 

"Deathbringer," She called but received no answer. However, this didn't worry her all too much. He had begun healing faster and faster, improving with each passing day. Now, it was not uncommon for Deathbringer to go out and run errands or train. 

She laid down in a little hammock and sighed. As much as Glory hated to admit it, she had been missing him lately. She was always so busy with her queenly duties that she never had time just to be with him, and even when she was home he was always so... Distant.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Deathbringer walked in, humming. She pretended to be asleep, and breathed rhythmically, letting her scales shift random colors. He stopped suddenly, and Glory wondered if he had noticed she was awake. But he just shook his head at something and sat down next to the bed. He had done this for years now, posting himself by her side, guarding her, protecting her. 

"I can't do that," he said suddenly, seemingly talking to himself. "I told you before, I'm not killing another dragon. I promised myself, and I promised Glory."

What was he talking about? Who was he talking to? Surely he couldn't be talking to someone telepathically, could he? No, he was not a mind reader; as much as he seemed to know about Glory with just a look sometimes (an annoying trait), it was physically impossible for him to be a mind reader. So who was he talking to? Himself? No, he would've been more careful, even if he thought she was asleep.

He sighed, and Glory thought she could see him wipe a tear away from his eye. She pretended to be just now waking up, and he straightened himself and sniffled a bit, but then reverted to his old, sarcastic self. He greeted her with a bow and wink.

"Hello my queen," he said in a high-pitched voice. 

Glory chuckled nervously, still confused by his behavior. She thought of the Omniverse's words, about the klyntaar, about strange behavior... Was Deathbringer really infected? She tried to shake that thought from her head, surely she was being paranoid, or over-analyzing something; surely, _her_ Deathbringer couldn't be evil... right?

"Hello?" He said, waving his talon in front of Glory's face "Sexy Nightwing Assasin to sexy Rainwing queen! Helloooooo?"

Glory swatted his hands away and managed to hide her blush. He was looking much better now that the burns had mostly healed. There were still a few blisters here and there, but they were barely noticeable.

"Hello, Deathbringer," she responded, trying her best to sound sleepy.

"Tiring day?" He asked, and Glory nodded. Even though she hadn't done much physical activity that day. "You know, I'm ready to start being your bodyguard again."

"Ok," Glory agreed. She didn't particularly disagree with him. He had made tremendous progress in the last week, and, she missed him during the day. Though she expected that she would get tired of him very quickly.

"Wait, what?" He wondered, not sure if he heard the queen correctly. 

"Ok," Glory repeated. "You've made tremendous progress over the week, and these guards aren't fun to talk to."

Deathbringer smirked at her. "Awww, you miss me?"

Glory rolled her eyes when a knock sounded at the door. When she opened it, Omniverse is standing there. He was standing there in a strangely optimistic mood and looked at Glory with a smile. 

"Have you come to a decision yet?" He asked politely. "I know it's only been 3 days, but I was hoping we could speed this up since I'm on-"

He abruptly stopped mid-sentence and stared at something behind Glory. She looked over her shoulder and saw Deathbringer staring intently at the nightwing. Glory wondered if they knew each other, but before she could ask, the Omniverse grabbed Glory and threw her behind him as Deathbringer lunged. 

The bodyguard collided with Omniverse, grabbing him, rolling, then throwing him against the wall, before grabbing him again and pinning him on the floor. Glory tried to grab the Deathbringer off, but he pushed her away with tremendous strength and continued grappling with the other nightwing.

Some strange red substance enveloped the Omniverse's claws, and he punched Deathbringer, sending him across the room. The nightwing stood as Deathbringer came at him, then suddenly disappeared. The ex-assassin look around frantically before Omniverse reappeared behind him, grabbed Deathbringer, and threw him against the wall. The same red substances covered his claws and he threw another punch. 

Deathbringer, with a burst of strength, parried the attack and punched the nightwing across the room. With a strange skill, Omniverse bounced off the wall and rammed Deathbringer again. He seized the ex-assassin by the throat and open his mouth, preparing to spew fire. As he shot it out, Deathbringer upper-cut the Nightwing, causing red energy to blast through the roof, completely obliterating it. 

_AN ANIMUS!_ Glory thought, slamming herself into the nightwing, but the Omniverse used her own force against her and threw her, then made a deep gash in Deathbringer's shoulder. Deathbringer howled in pain as the Omniverse took his back and put his talons on the nightwing's temples. The same red energy appeared and forced itself into Deathbringer's head then back into the Nightwing's arms as Deathbringer screamed in pain. Glory ran towards the 2 dragons but was forced back by some strange force and pinned against the wall. 

As the energy flow continues, a strange black mass seems to separate from Deathbringer. Deathbringer screams in agony as this thing is ripped from within him. 

"GET OUT OF HIM!" Omniverse yelled at the creature. The black mass suddenly came to life and reached back, grabbing the nightwing and throwing him with incredible strength. Omniverse tumbled through the air, breaking through the wall and tumbling to the forest floor. The black mass merged with Deathbringer, his handsome face overcome by a diseased, hellish creature, as they chased flew after him. Glory was finally freed by the mysterious force and arrived at the scene to see Omniverse on the ground, covered by a translucent red shield as the creature that used to be Deathbringer pounded it. 

"REWIND!" Omniverse screamed, and with a blast of red energy, it never happened. 


	14. What exactly in an inspiration room-- OH MY GOSH!

"Awww, you missed-" Deathbringer stopped himself abruptly. What just happened? Wasn't he just fighting? Who... what? So many questions raced through Deathbringer's mind. Was it possible that it had all been a figment of his imagination?

 **It was the mystic!** Venom growled. **It wasn't your imagination. All that stuff you saw when Glory opened the door was real. He has the power to manipulate time, but usually, we're left clueless as to what happened, but this time... We remembered somehow.**

There was that same knock at the door, but this time, when Glory went to open it, Deathbringer stopped her. "I'll get it," he insisted, trying to sound calm. He opened the door, and everything else, everything that would happen, and everything that had happened ceased to exist for just a second, as he became acutely aware of everything in that present moment. And then he was back, the strange nightwing was there, except, this time, he seemed a lot less optimistic and a lot more tired. He had long, elegant wings, with crimson red edges. His eyes, or eye, since his left eye was missing, were also a strange red, but not evil... more hypnotizing.

"Hi, Glo-" the nightwing started, but stopped, his eyes going wide. "How?"

"Omniverse?" Glory said from behind him. The nightwing quickly straightened himself out and returned to smiling tiredly. 

"Queen Glory," he greeted as Glory pushed Deathbringer away. "It's good to see you. I was just coming to confirm whether or not you had made a decision. 

"Of course," Glory said regally. "You have partial jurisdiction over my kingdom. Though I will have to be informed before any big decisions are made."

"Of course," he said, then looked at Deathbringer. "You're Deathbringer, right? I heard that you got struck by lightning."

"Twice," Deathbringer corrected, still a bit disoriented and wary.

"Amazing. You will have to tell me about it, it could bring a lot of new information to light." Something about the way the nightwing said that... It didn't bode well.

"Anyway," Omniverse continued. "My boss will be here soon to talk to you, while I look over the Kingdoms he gained. Hopefully, this will all be over soon."

There was a slight twinge in Deathbringer's mind, something like a tugging at the back of his brain. **Now?** Venom questioned in an annoyed voice.

"There's apparently a virus going around, along with a gang or cult of some kind. They're offering us protection."

"Can't we protect ourselves?" Deathbringer questioned as Venom cursed inside of his mind.

"I thought so, but when he explained it to me, I realized it was much bigger than any of us."

"Excuse me please," Deathbringer found himself saying, before flying out of the hut toward... who knows where?

 **It's time you meet the brains of this operation.** Venom decided, continuing to pull Deathbringer further into the forest.

"Twisted?" Deathbringer asked, which Venom confirmed. They reached a ravine of some sort, and the nightwing's stomach clenched. To his despair, the symbiote pulled them toward the old nightwing tunnels. Venom tried to bring Deathbringer into the tunnels, but the nightwing resisted, refusing the move. 

A million memories flooded back to Deathbringer all at once. His starvation, his brutal training, watching his friend die in the lava. He thought that he had left it all behind when he had made his desperate escape beside Glory and Starflight. But now... to go back...

 **Stop being such a baby. Twisted doesn't like to wait!** Venom warned him, and realizing he had no other choice, Deathbringer slowly walked into the tunnel, closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. He forced himself to think something lighter and more optimistic than the nightwing island, like the plague. 

**Turn right,** Venom commanded. The nightwing did as he was told, and walked forward. Sure enough, it opened up into another black tunnel. Venom led him deeper into the passageway making so many twists and turns he lost count until ahead of him he could see a metal door. Suddenly, though he didn't feel it happen until it was done, his snout was tied closed, along with his wings and talons, and he was pressed to the floor. 

"Move and I'll make you wish you were dead," she had a knife pressed to her neck so tightly that Deathbringer had to constrict his breathing to not be cut. "What are you doing here?"

 **"Calm down Z-20. It's me."** Venom said through Deathbringer's snout, taking control. 

"Venom?" she asked, slowly releasing Deathbringer. Deathbringer saw that this was another strange, torn-up dragon, this one a rainwing. "This is the form you chose?"

**"I couldn't be too picky, considering I only had 2 hours in this dimension before complete cellular decay. Where's the boss?"**

"Where he always is," the dragon replied, rolling her eyes. "In his 'inspiration' room."

Venom nodded and walked through the metal door, which opened for him automatically. He walked through metal corridors, reaching multiple checkpoints where Venom had to input a password until they reached a door with words written in blood, though Deathbringer couldn't read it. 

**What you are about to see will be very unnerving, but do NOT react. Do not say anything, do not do anything, do not touch anything. Just... stay cool.**

This only made Deathbringer more worried, but Venom didn't seem to notice; and with that, Deathbringer was pulled inside of the dimly lit room, with dead dragons hung from the ceiling. Nooses tied them to hooks on the ceiling, though it was clear that's not how many of them died. Most were rainwings and nightwings, but there were some from every tribe. The worst part was due to them being at different heights, ranging from their tails limp on the ground to high above their head, sometimes blood would drip onto Deathbringer, making him recoil and end up bumping into another corpse. They all had horrible slashes with a blade-like weapon, and some of them had their guts ripped out, which now laid spilled on the floor... Had somebody been eating them?

A voice not at all like Deathbringer was expecting suddenly spoke. This voice wasn't demonic, or blatantly evil... It was actually somewhat smooth, the only thing unsettling with the sinister intent that laced his voice. "Welcome, Deathbringer, to your new future."


	15. Twisted The Fox

"Welcome, Deathbringer, to your new future," the voice said, though, no matter which way he looked the nightwing looked couldn't find the owner of the voice, but he didn't get to look long as he was suddenly forced down into a bow. 

**"You called,"** Venom stated respectfully. Deathbringer could barely stand being so close to the blood that covered the floor. He could see chains moving in the distance as the creature approached. 

"Yes, yes I did. Well, my first thought was to make sure you were alright. I sensed the shift in time and figured that could only mean that you were in trouble. But, you're all right, aren't you?"

 **"Well-"** Venom started, but he was interrupted by the creature jumping out from behind one of the bodies wielding a pitch-black blade. Venom let out what could only be described as a squeak and threw Deathbringer backward, hitting a body and tumbling to the floor. The creature was some sort of anthropomorphic fox with scars covering its body and a hook on his right hand... The hook. 

Deathbringer swore the hook looked familiar, but he couldn't put his claw on it. The creature laughed heartily, and Deathbringer found his laugh surprisingly infectious. Venom only grumbled. 

"Alright, get off the floor before I kill you like your son," his tone changed completely, turning from friendly to deadly in an instant, and Venom hurriedly stood up. As soon as he did, the fox returned to being friendly, however, that bit of sinister intent still laced his voice. "Come here, let me get a look at you!"

The fox got extremely close to Deathbringer's face and smiled, brushing the flatter part of his hook against the nightwing's face. Deathbringer's muscles tensed as Twisted brushed along them as if trying to sense his strength. This continued for much too long, Twisted simply examining every inch of Deathbringer. 

"Fascinating," he commented with a twisted smile. His eyes contained deep, deep insanity and a violent mania that could be released at any moment. Deathbringer knew that, without a doubt, this creature in front of him was the most dangerous thing on the continent.

"He will make a great host," the fox suddenly proclaimed, standing up and turning away. "Especially with his relationship with the queen, he will be able to influence things in our favor."

"Influence what?" Deathbringer finally asked the question on his mind. "You still haven't told me what we are going to be working together on."

The fox looked at Deathbringer, or rather, Venom, incredulously. "You haven't told him?"

 **"You told me to keep it on a need-to-know,"** Venom countered, the fox only groaned. 

"Well, HE needs to know!" the fox yelled, then sighed and snapped his fingers. Green sparks appear from his hands and traveled around the room, shaping into long, interlocking lines and shapes that eventually formed a dazzling elaborate web.

"We are all familiar with the universe, and maybe the multiverse-," the creature explained, talking like a professor. "But what if I told you that was only a portion of our existence?"

The shapes slowly began to come together, creating large clusters of green light around the room. 

"This is the Spectroverse. Each spectrum contains no less than a billion multiverses, and our mission is to control one multiverse in every Spectrum, starting with this dimension, then moving on to others. You dig?"

"What do you mean by _control_?" Deathbringer asked, but immediately regretted it as the fox smiled wickedly. 

"The destruction of your world," green flames spewed out of the fox's eyes as he said this in a truly _evil_ tone. "Nightmares haven't had a homeworld in quite some time, so we're going to take yours, even if it means killing everyone and everything in this dimension!"

This was worse than Deathbringer feared. They weren't trying to create a new world, they were only trying to destroy this one. "How would that benefit you?!" Deathbringer shouted impulsively. "If everything's dead then there'd be nothing to make it a good homeworld!"

Twisted's hand shot out and grasped Deathbringer by the throat, his grip like iron. "I did _not_ give you permission to speak freely," the fox stated, somehow still looking amused. "But, I know you're new to this, so I'll simply let you off with a warning."

But even after saying this, he held onto Deathbringer for several more seconds before letting him go, leaving him gasping for air. "As for your question, that is really none of my concern, nor is it yours. I'm given worlds to dominate, and I dominate them; and from now on, I give you orders, and you'll follow them."

So even a creature as feared as this one was taking orders from someone else? How high did this chain of command go? Did they also have a queen of their own? So many questions, but he had a feeling that if he asked them, he'd get another choke.

"Now," The fox continued, the web changing to zoom into one cluster, continuing to zoom in to one line in particular. "If you were to help us, we can guarantee you and Glory safety. She will be all yours. All you have to do is help us out."

The web suddenly disappeared, the sparks coming together to form a new image. Two figures in the relative shapes of dragons were nuzzling each other lovingly, and it didn't take long for Deathbringer to realize that they were depicting him and Glory. "It will just be you and her, for eternity, nothing left to do but get it on!"

 **I know what you're about to ask, and it's stupid.** Venom said to Deathbringer, but the nightwing didn't listen; his curiosity overtaking his fear. If he really was going to let this... creature, take his world, if he was going to live the rest of his with Glory, this was something that had to be resolved.

"What happened with Venom's son?"


	16. Rogue, The Lesbian Badass

Twisted's face dropped from a smile to a snarl. All at once, the figures disappeared, leaving them in complete darkness other than Twisted's glowing green eyes.

"What?" The Nightmare questioned in a voice so condescending it made Deathbringer want to shrink into oblivion. **Answer confidently, but not without fear.** Venom instructed him, and as contradictory as those instructions were, he did his best to follow them. 

"E-earlier, you told Venom that y-you'd kill him like you did his s-son," Deathbringer said, his confidence from earlier leaving him in his time of need. "I-if I'm going t-to live a life w-with Glor-ry, I need to know..."

"His son was a traitor, and so, per tradition, we had to kill him in the most violent way possible," Twisted interjected, and Venom made a strangled noise. "I can promise you, as long as your child doesn't actively get in our way, they will not be harmed."

Venom made another strangled noise, and Deathbringer decided that he'd question it later. Twisted's face returned to its normal, amused-looking self. "Now, if you are going to be a part of this operation, there are a few dragons I will need you to slaughter."

It took Deathbringer a moment to process what the creature actually said. He had said it so nonchalantly-- so naturally-- that the nightwing hand;t really thought much of it until the words fully processed in his brain. 

"Wait, what?" Deathbringer realized after a few seconds. 

"You heard me. If you're going to be a part of our operation, I'm gonna need you to kill some dragons. They're just a few individuals that may cause problems in our plans."

Gears turned slowly in Deathbringer's brain. He had made a promise, that if he met someone he cared about, he'd give up the life of an assassin; and he had, he had met Glory... If he did this, he'd be betraying Glory, himself, and every dragon in Pyrrhia...

"I can't be a part of that," Deathbringer decided."I promised-"

Twisted's face hardens once again, suddenly grabbing the nightwing by his horn and yanking his head sideways. His eyes spewed malevolent green flames. At first, Deathbringer had thought that maybe it was some kind of power granted by an animus object. Flames that looked cool but didn't radiate any heat; how else would the fox survive otherwise? But now, with Twisted so close to him, he could _feel_ his lapse in judgment. 

"Look," he demands, his voice now demonic. "What don't you understand here? I don't give a crap about who you promised or what. I have an agent in your head, so you're going to do whatever the frick I tell you to do, whether you agree to it or not. So why not agree to something you're going to do anyway and get something for it?"

 **Just agree to it. You can't win.** Venom growled at him, but Deathbringer refused. He refused to return to being a tool someone used to get the job done! So, he stood his ground, even as Twisted used his horn as leverage to throw the nightwing across the massive room. The lights came back on soon after... Had his fur grown redder? When Deathbringer had first seen the fox, his fur seemed somewhat thin, as if it had been cut recently, but now it was longer... Perhaps it was just the nightwings imagination.

"I HAVE AN IDEA!!" the fox exclaims suddenly. "How about you get out of my face before I claw out your liver and shove it so far up your butt you'll taste it and go think about it for a day? Yes! I am such a genius! Get! OUT!"

Deathbringer didn't need to be told twice. The nightwing bolted out of the nightwing at top speed. He slammed through to the door, tore down the hallway, and hastily navigated the tunnels, refusing to stop until he was standing at the entrance to the nightwing tunnel. He took a moment to gasp for air and to consider what he had just been told; but no matter how much he thought about it, he failed the wrap his head around the concept. He was expected to assist in the destruction of Pyrrhia? Not only that, but he was working for a creature whose soul was made up of complete insanity? He couldn't do that!

But then again, what was the alternative? Decline the deal and then be killed anyway? Was it better to take the deal and get the benefits, or to decline the deal and die doing the right thing? Even if he _did_ accept, how would he know if Twisted would keep his word? He hated this dilemma!

 **My son was a traitor, but he was fighting for what was right,** Venom said sadly, stuck on his own train of thought. **He saw the error in the Nightmare's ways, and he arranged a revolution... I-I thought they would help...**

 _He told the Nightmares about his son,_ Deathbringer realized. _And he regrets it to this day..._

**They killed him,** Venom said. **They put him in a 100-degree room and raised the temperature by 1 every minute. He died at 298 degrees. Don't you get it, Deathbringer? You can't fight the Nightmares... No one can...**

"That can't be true," Deathbringer said stubbornly. "I-if there was really no one to fight the Nightmares, then they would have taken over everything right? Like the Cawthons!"

Venom was quiet, filling Deathbringer's mind with hesitant silence. There was another way that Venom wasn't telling him! "Venom, they killed your son! Don't you want revenge?"

Venom growled. **There's a being, a descendant of the god that created the multiverse. He's fought the Nightmares for billions of years.**

"Then why don't we go to them?" Deathbringer asked, his hopes rising; however, they were knocked back down soon after with Venom's sigh. **We're on opposites sides of a war, Deathbringer, he'll kill us on sight.**

Deathbringer groaned in frustration, pacing back and forth. "Why does everyone want to kill everything?!"

 **I know that's not coming from the dragon named Deathbringer,** Venom retorted sassily, making Deathbringer groan. There _had_ to be another way! A way to win! If his time with Glory had taught him anything, it was that there is always a way, he just had to think...

But who was he kidding? He wasn't a Dragonet Of Destiny, he never stopped a war, he never even got a formal education! How in Pyrrhia was he supposed to stop a creature as powerful as that?!

Feeling defeated, he rose into the air and began flying back towards the palace. Even as he flew, his mind raced back and forth between his choices as he tried to find some kind of suitable alternative, but he came up empty. _Why isn't Venom trying harder?_ he thought, annoyed that the symbiote wasn't even trying to solve this. "Don't you want to avenge your son?!"

 **What do you want me to say?!** Venom suddenly shouted inside of Deathbringer's head, loud enough to make the nightwing sway dizzily. **There's nothing we can do! There's nothing YOU can do. The only people who can help us will kill us on sight! So what is there to say? Do you want me to comfort you? To tell you it will be all right? Well, NEWS FLASH, it's not gonna be ok! Everyone you know and love is going to be tortured, raped, and killed! So Deathbringer, what do you want me to-?**

Something suddenly crashed into Deathbringer's side, knocking the air out of him and pushing him towards the ground. The nightwing's attacker didn't miss a beat, grappling him even as they hurdled through the air. By the time Deathbringer had come back to his senses, he was dazed once again as he slammed against the forest floor with the attacker on top of him.

 **Goddammit! It's her!** Venom cursed, his voice providing the anchor the nightwing needed to focus himself. His vision was blurry, but he could still make out that the dragon attacking him seemed to be some kind of hybrid, primarily icewing with mostly white scales, but also some of the orange scales and wide wings of a Skywing.

"Don't resist," she commanded as if Deathbringer was going to listen. He growled and reached out to bite her, but she quickly counteracted this with a throat punch. "What did I _just_ say?"

Deathbringer growled and continued to attack, but every time she knew just how to counteract it! She moved with startling speed and efficiency, not bothering with theatrics or intimidation. Her tail wrapped around his neck and pinned his head, while her talons pinned the rest of him. "Finally!" she exclaimed with an exasperated sigh. "It would be so much easier if I could knock you out, or just, jab my tail into your jugular. I mean, why have an ultra-sharp poisonous tail if I can't use it?"

Deathbringer lashed out again, this time with his tail, but she whipped around and caught it in her mouth, her sharp teeth tearing into his scales, drawing blood. Eventually, she let go, spitting out the blood that had pooled in her mouth. 

"Who are you?" Deathbringer asked, and the hybrid looked at him with weirdly friendly eyes.

"You can call me Rogue," she says. "Ultra inter-dimensional crime-fighting lesbian badass. Perhaps you've heard of me?"

It took a moment for Deathbringer to realize that she wasn't joking. "What do you want from me?"

"It's not what I want, it's what you need," she answered, only managing to confuse Deathbringer further. She brought her talon down gently onto his chest, pressing one claw slightly harder creating a small, clean cut. Not 3 seconds later, the wound stitched itself back together.

"I know Venom is in there with you," she informed him, her grip on his neck loosening. "I know about the Nightmares, I know everything. We're here to help you, and to save Pyrrhia."

Despite everything, Deathbringer's hopes rose again. Was this the chance that he had been hoping for just seconds ago? This could be his chance! 

Then again, life is never fair, now is it? So, just as he opened his mouth to accept her offer, she was blasted off of him by black energy. Rogue spun in the air and landed on her feet just barely quick enough to avoid the next blast. A crowd of the monster-dragons emerged from the trees, firing balls of their strange power hurdling toward her.

The hybrid moved with the grace of a trained dancer, weaving through the spaces in between balls of energy. The moment she was close enough, she spun and flipped and slashed. Though she held no weapon, large gashes and lacerations appeared on her foes.

 _Her wings!_ Deathbringer realized after a moment. The ends of her wings served as blades in themselves, sharper than most weapons Deathbringer used! 

She cut through the crowd, flipping and dodging the blasts of energy. Their numbers fell, then dwindled, then bottomed out. Finally, to Deathbringer's dread, Venom took over and joined the fight. 

"What are you doing?!" Deathbringer protested as Rogue finished off the last of the soldiers. "She's our way out!"

But the Klyntaarian didn't listen, lunging at the hybrid who backflipped away from danger. "Don't do this to yourself," she warned as Venom swung again, dodging just as easily. The symbiote refused to listen or speak, only attacked. "Fine! Have it your way!"

She ran circles around them, dashing and jumping and flipping as she slashed away at his defenses. Rogue wasn't able to cause much damage due to his incredible healing factor. Then again, Venom wasn't able to cause _any_ damage due to her incredible reflexes and agility. 

He took a particular fierce swing at her, and she slid under his wing before using their momentum to swing onto his back and stab her tail into his neck. Despite at least 20 cm of symbiote being between Deathbringer and the outside world, the nightwing could feel some kind of needle being pressed into his neck. 

"If you move, I will release my virus directly into your jugular artery," she warned. Her tone indicated that despite her earlier tenderness, she would have no problem killing him where he stood. "Even if you manage to kill me, not even Venom will be able to save you from your fate. Once the toxin takes effect, you will grow manic as it takes its toll on the brain. Your bodily systems will begin to fail you. You may piss and crap yourself. Your organs will fail and hemorrhage, and you will vomit blood. You will die, but it will be slow."

Both Venom and Deathbringer were frozen, both knowing they were stuck. So, realizing his defeat, the symbiote slowly sank back into Deathbringer's scales. "Here's what's going to happen," she growled at him, sticking to him like glue. "You're going to follow my instructions, and tell me exactly what the Nightmares are planning."

Again, Deathbringer was content with this alternative; he had been willing to help them since the very beginning! The fact that Venom was now being forced to comply only helped him! But, did you skip over some of the stories? Because if you hadn't, you'd remember that life is not fair, and rarely ever goes your way. 

There was high-pitched whistling for a moment, the kind you hear in movies when a bomb is being dropped. There was no time to react! By the time he figured out what was happening the sword had already buried itself into the ground underneath them. A moment later, the blade exploded with black energy, eliciting shill screams of pain from both dragons and drowning them in a void of darkness.

Deathbringer awoke a few seconds later to find a large, light grey Klyntaarian standing over him with a smirk. The nightwing didn't even have a moment to be scared before Venom took over.

" **I had that!"** Venom insisted angrily. The other creature scoffed and smirked.

" **I bet you did,"** the other creature said sarcastically. 

"Who is that?" Deathbringer asked, earning an annoyed growl. 

**"This is Riot,"** Venom introduces the grey symbiote. He hesitates for a few seconds. **"He's my other son."**

" **Take Twisted's deal,"** Riot advises. **"Pyrrhia will die either way. You might as well get something for it."**

And with that note, he leans down then shoots up into the air. The force kicked dirt into Venom's eyes, earning a snarl from the salty symbiote. 

**"If you make a joke about my parenting, I'm going to stop your heart again,"** the Klynntarian warned, and Deathbringer bit back his remark. Venom drained back into the bodyguard's black scales. **"Go home. It's getting late."**

Deathbringer looked up at the sky, and to his surprise, the symbiote was right! He had left just this morning, and hadn't spent more than 15 minutes inside of the base! How could 12 hours have passed in that amount of time?!

 **"It's a sub-dimension,"** Venom explained, sensing the nightwing's confusion. **"The passage of time tends to differ between dimensions."**

 _Glory's gonna be so pissed,_ he realized, and the moment he thought of the queen, his thoughts couldn't help but wander back to Twisted's deal. He didn't want to consider it. It was so obviously wrong to even consider sacrificing everyone and everything just to be with the dragon you love!

 _Especially when she doesn't love you back,_ the back of his mind taunted him... Moons above, why were his thoughts so loud?

Finally, he reached the palace. The guards at the front greeted him. "Queen Glory's been looking for you all day. Where've you been?"

 _In a subdimension with an evil fox who has a plan to take over Pyrrhia,_ Deathbringer had the urge to say, an urge a bit stronger than it should've been. Fortunately, he was able to hold himself back and come up with a quick answer.

"Out," he said gruffly. I never said it was a _good_ answer. As he walked over to her office, his brain swirled more and more. His anxiety grew, and even Deathbringer knew that something was wrong, but Glory took priority over everything; over him, his health, no matter how severe.

By the time he reached the door to Glory's office, he was quaking, but he didn't want to stop. He didn't want to stop until he was near her. So he opened the door, and there she was. The rainwing queen was sitting at her desk doing paperwork. When the nightwing entered, she looked up at him, and pure relief washed over her face.

"Deathbringer!" She exclaimed in relief. After a moment though, that relief turned to anger, and Deathbringer's chest tightened. "I have been looking for you all damn day! You can't just run off like that! What was so important that you had to leave for the whole day without a word?!"

He wanted to tell her. His mind screamed at him, the voice bouncing around his skull and shattering everything in its path. Deathbringer wanted to hug her. He wanted to hold her close and tell her everything he heard that day. He wanted to ask her what to do. He wanted her to help him make a decision that won for everyone because she was amazing and perfect and beautiful and that's what she did!

 **Slow your role.** Venom warned, growing concerned. **Your adrenaline is going through the roof... To be honest you probably _could_ go through the roof with that amount of adrenaline.**

But Deathbringer couldn't calm down, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't even think properly. His thoughts were racing and he couldn't keep up with them and he felt so full and yet so empty. He wanted to protect Glory. He wanted to shield her from the creature he just met, and anything he was going to face. He knew he had to but that he couldn't. That he did but was never going to. Everything felt so wrong but so right. He wanted to hug and kiss her but wanted to hurt her. He wanted to love her and hate her and want her and kill her.

 **Deathbringer, calm down!** Venom demanded, but Deathbringer would not, will not, did not, is not. He wanted to kill everything. He wanted to rip off his own scales and turn them into a knife. Why did everything hurt? Why did it burn?! Why did things have to burn? Why did he feel like his insides were melting? It felt his organs were rotting years at a time inside of his body.

"I'm so sorry," he said finally, and Glory rolled her eyes and grunted in frustration. Everything inside of him was in place but shattered. He felt tears come to his eyes and roll down his face, but when he went to wipe them away there was blood on his talon. He made a strangled noise that was supposed to be gasp, and the queen looked back up at him.

"Deathbringer?!" Glory she exclaimed, her eyes wide. It was only then when the nightwing realized he was peeing uncontrollably onto the floor, but he smiled. He wanted to die, but he smiled. 

Then, everything went black. And Deathbringer embraced sweet death.


	17. Exposed

When Deathbringer regained anything resembling consciousness, he hated it instantly. Everything felt hot and loose. Could he go back to being dead?

 **Welcome back to the world of the living.** Venom said smugly, eliciting a quiet groan from the nightwing. **I mean that literally. You were dead for about 3 hours 23 minutes 47 seconds.**

"What happened?" the bodyguard questioned sleepily, trying to pull enough of his strength together to move.

 **Rogue must have injected some of her toxins without us realizing it,** Venom explained. **I was able to combat it, and now here we are.**

Deathbringer looked around to see where he was, and quickly realized he was in the rainwing hospital. He rolled off the bed and stood up, stumbling only slightly before finding his balance.

"So it wasn't a dream?" Deathbringer thought dreadfully. He remembered what happened before he had passed out, and the very idea that it was real... he didn't even want to think about it.

 **You have a mental breakdown and then peeing on Glory's floor?** Venom questioned. **Naaaah, complete work of fiction**.

Deathbringer rolled his eyes. So it _had_ been real... "Moons above," he exclaimed quietly. How was he going to talk his way out of this one? Scratch that, how could he even face Glory after what had happened?

 **You know you can't tell her what really happened,** Venom informed him, and Deathbringer jolted up.

"Why not?" the nightwing questioned. Telling her the truth was probably the only way to get out of this mess!

 **Because you know Glory,** the symbiote insisted. **She will try to find a way to stop Twisted, and he will kill her.**

As much as he wanted to disagree, to argue with the Klynntarian and tell him he was wrong, he couldn't. Deep down, Deathbringer knew that he was right. Glory would not stand for injustice in her rainforest, and she would try to stop it. And, though he basically just got here, he knew that Twisted was _far_ beyond anyone and anything in Pyrrhia. 

"Deathbringer," Glory's called gently, pulling back the curtain. Her face softened when she saw him. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"I'm so sorry," he blurted. "I didn't mean to. I just... I think I ate something weird, and I couldn't control myself and I felt like I was gonna-"

"It's ok," Glory assured him. "But... I need to know what you did today."

**You can't tell her. For her safety.**

"I promise I won't kill you whatever you say," she says, then adds, "I never said I won't be mad."

**He will kill her.**

"I need to tell her," Deathbringer insisted. "Glory, ever since the storm, I've been going through some stuff."

Glory looked at him worriedly. "Tell, me," she insisted. 

"I wanted to tell you sooner, but he hasn't let me. He told me that keeping it a secret was in your best interest, but it's getting to be too much to handle." He took a deep breath. This was it. "Glory I've been... I've been infected with something..."

**There's still time to turn back!**

"I don't know what exactly he is," Deathbringer continued despite Venom's warnings. "But he latched onto me during the storm..."

The nightwing stopped when he saw Glory's face... Why was she looking at him like that? Her face looked as if she was in denial, and her eyes... there was no recognition in them whatsoever. Why? He was still the dragon she trusted with her life all those years ago!

Then, she started backing away! Deathbringer tried to reach for her, but she flinched. **I told you,** Venom said, but he dismissed it. 

"I need your help," he said, now desperate. He had been trying to prove Venom wrong, but now he was starting to doubt his choice! "He latched onto me during the storm and now he's inside of me! His name is Venom, and he works with The Nightmares. Today, he brought me to their base to try and win me over but they failed! I'm not going to hurt you."

Glory was frozen at the edge of the room, and Deathbringer could see a million thoughts in her head trying to organize themselves. "A member of the Klyntaar?" she said finally, and both Deathbringer and Venom were surprised. 

"H-how did you-?" Deathbringer asked, but Glory cut him off. Now, she seemed less scared and more... hurt.

"And their base... You met with someone from the Nightmares... As in a Class 9 Nightmare Entity?" she questioned. "It was you... all along. You're the host."

"I wanted to tell you sooner!" the nightwing repeated, but he could tell he was fighting a losing battle. "Please, Glory... It's me."

She stood there, trying to act strong, but Deathbringer knew her well enough to see the conflict in her. "Please," he begged. "It's me, Deathbringer. The dragon who abandoned his entire tribe for you. Who sacrificed everything just to be near you."

She stood there for several moments, and Deathbringer waited, and waited for her to answer, for any sign whatsoever! His heart pounded in his chest, even Venom seemed to be tense with anticipation.

And then, after what felt like an eternity, he got an answer.


	18. An Answer and Another Choice

To say the least, it was a lot to take in. If Lefte was to be believed, these Nightmares were supposed to be some kind of terrorists! They were such a threat, that they needed to have control over all of Pyrrhia just to counteract them! And now, Deathbringer was not only telling her that he was a part of these terrorists, but he had been since the storm?! That he had met with their leader without telling her?

But on the other talon, it was _Deathbringer_ she was talking about! The idiot who walked into walls regularly. The dragon had given up everything just to be her bodyguard. The dragon who was always there for her, no matter what... He wasn't a terrorist... Was he?

She looked at his face, that face that would make her warm inside whenever he wore that stupid smirk. But now, he wasn't smirking, he was pleading, begging her to see past all of the former...

She opened her mouth to speak but saw the way that he cowered at the very idea of her speaking, and her heart shattered. She closed her snout and rushed over to him, embracing him in a tight hug. "I-I'm sorry," she apologized. What had she been thinking? It was Deathbringer! She had no reason to be afraid of him! 

He noticeably relaxed as soon as she hugged him, wrapping his wings around her in return. The nightwing let out a shaky breath, obviously relieved by her choice. In all honesty, so was Glory. After spending years with him, getting so attached... she didn't think she could live without him!

It didn't take long for the moment to be over, however, as 3... creatures entered the room. In the presence of these beings, Deathbringer's entire body tightened. All 3 of them anthropomorphic animals.

One was a black male bear with a yellow star on his chest and a red bowtie; there was a bit of red fur on his cheeks, and he was missing an eye. The second creature was a red and orange vixen with purple fur on her cheeks and painted claws. The last one was in the center of the group and was an anthropomorphic wolf. His fur was grey, and unlike the others, his fur wasn't accented by bright colors. His left arm looked a bit damaged with small white bits that looked like they could grow into spikes. The thing that stood out the most, though, were his eyes that were a hypnotizing sapphire blue; they radiated a kind of calming energy, and if Glory didn't know any better, she'd say that they glowed.

Deathbringer released her and stepped in front of her defensively. The vixen got into a fighting stance but the wolf put his hand up to stop her. "Don't worry," he said finally. His voice surprised Glory. She had expected it to be deep and powerful, but listening to it now... he sounded like a teen! "We're here to help."

"Who are you?" Glory demanded, and a small smile appeared on the wolf's face.

"Well, you know these two," he said. The bear's missing eye glowed, and to the queen's amazement, red energy swirled around him and the vixen. After a moment, they were replaced by Rogue and Omniverse. 

"But my real name is Lefte," Omniverse, or rather, who she thought was Omniverse spoke up.

"W-wha-" Glory tried, but nothing came out. What was this? Animus magic?

"It's not animus magic," Lefte said, turning back into the bear. "it's Mystic Energy."

"We are an elite group of warriors who travel-" the wolf stopped at elite and glared at Rogue, who was snickering. "What? What's so funny."

"The fact you think you're elite," she said, and he rolled his eyes. 

" _As I was saying,"_ he grumbled, before straightening himself out. "We are an elite group of warriors who travel through the dimensions fighting the Nightmares. My name is Flint, and I am the leader of this group."

Lefte nudged him, and he seemed to remember something. "Right. I am also the Cawthon."

Deathbringer gasped quietly and took a step back. _Does he know him?_ Glory questioned in her mind. She had so many questions! Thoughts swirled in her head uncontrollably, refusing to line up in a coherent train of thought. 

"We apologize for the manipulation," Lefte assured her. "We were trying to solve the issue as quickly and quietly as possible, but we realize now we made a mistake."

"Deal with what?!" Glory shouted suddenly, all of her confusion expressing itself in frustration. 

"It's what I said before," Rogue explained. "The end of your world."

"You mean Twisted?" Deathbringer spoke up suddenly, and they all nodded.

"He's a class 9 Nightmare entity," Lefte explained. "Class 9 refers to a world-destroyer."

"What makes the Nightmare's so dangerous?" Glory wondered. What could be such a threat that they require interdimensional warriors to intervene? How could something tangible be so dangerous as to be considered a _world-destroyer_?

"You know the stories, right?" Rogue questioned. "Of scavenger's ruling before dragons?"-- the queen nodded-- "What do you think killed them off?"

"The existence of animus magic is due to the Nightmare's tampering with the Mystic Crystal," Lefte added. 

"And most Nightmares are genetically engineered to be sociopathic and sadistic. They enjoy inflicting pain and misery," Flint added as well. _Great, just great,_ Glory thought. Now, the question was what made _them_ able to deal with this threat?

"Why us?" Glory's bodyguard questioned. "What made him choose this dimension?"

"Not sure," Rogue admitted. "We have intel that they're trying to change the timeline to achieve something, which is why they haven't destroyed it yet. Don't ask me what, cause I don't know."

Glory considered this, then looked at Deathbringer, who also looked thoughtful. _Are they after Deathbringer?_ she wondered. No, that didn't make much sense. If they wanted Deathbringer, by now, they would have him, wouldn't they? Since they had someone inside of him?

"Deathbringer," Flint says. "Or, rather, Venom. Will you join us?"

There was a silence following, and the queen looked at Deathbringer worryingly. She knew that Deathbringer would say yes. That he would not hesitate to fight for a good cause. But it wasn't up to Deathbringer...

It was up to the Nightmare within him.

**_ Hey everyone, sorry for my inconsistent and very infrequent upload schedule. It's been really hard trying to balance writing with school and my other responsibilities. I promise though, I'm not orphaning this story and will continue to upload as often as possible! Feel free to leave a comment... _ **

**_ Please leave a comment... I'm so lonely. _ **


	19. Forced Combined

As soon as Deathbringer heard the question, his heart fluttered and stopped at the same time. "Please Venom," he pleaded. When the Klyntaarian had attacked Rogue before, he had solidified his alliance with the Nightmare's in Deathbringer's, and probably their mind, too. As soon as he was free, he had gone straight for the kill, without hesitation. "It's the only way to avenge your son."

 **You can't beat the Nightmares. No one can,** Venom said solemnly, and the nightwing's despair quickly vanished, giving way to anger. 

"Why won't you even try?!" Deathbringer shouted, forgetting he was in a room with other dragons. "Don't you care?"

 **OF COURSE, I CARE!** Venom shouted. Black tendrils shot up and attached to the ceiling before pulling him up, trapping him against the wood. Everyone else stepped in to intervene, but Deathbringer halted them.

"Then why won't you act like it?!" Deathbringer questioned, refusing to be intimidated by this alien. _He's inside of_ ** _my_ **_body,_ he growled in his head. 

**What do you want me to do?** Venom questioned. **Rush into battle against a foe I know I can't beat? Are you asking me to die Deathbringer?**

"I'm not asking you to die! I'm just asking you to _TRY!_ "

**It's pointless anyway! There's nothing we can do!**

"Why are you being a coward?!"

 **BECAUSE I'M SCARED,** Venom admitted suddenly. For a moment, the wall that separated the two's emotions thinned, allowing Deathbringer to feel all the pain the klyntaarian was hiding. A long silence between the two followed. **I'm terrified, Deathbringer. Don't you think I want to fight back? Don't you think I want to avenge my son?**

"You can," Deathbringer assured him gently, but the symbiote only scoffed. 

**You haven't seen what he's capable of,** Venom insisted. **You haven't seen him kill millions with a smile on his face.**

"You're right," Deathbringer admitted. "I haven't. But they have, and now you have them. You're not alone anymore, Venom."

The symbiote was quiet, so the nightwing kept going. "We can do this. Together."

The tendrils extended, lowering Deathbringer safely to the ground, and the nightwing smiled. He'd done it. He'd convinced him, he could feel it. The nightwing looked back up at the group, suddenly remembering their existence. "We're in," Deathbringer informed them, and they all smiled.

At this moment, Deathbringer felt powerful, like he had just proved himself and beyond. He had grown up as an assassin. He talked with his fists and blades... But now, in a situation where all of that was useless, he came through... He... He came through! Maybe he killing wasn't the only thing it was good at...

The moment, however, was over very quickly. 

Lefte suddenly gasped and waved his talon to the side, using his power to knock Glory sideways. Mere moments later, a robotic creature slammed through the wall, shoving his blade into the ground where Glory had been standing. 

The machine was a huge behemoth resembling a gorilla. It's covered in a dark metal alloy, with spikes down its spine and arms. Its eyes glowed red behind a visor. Small gaps in its thick armor where it was supposedly welded together provided a constant outflow of steam. If that was all Deathbring had to go off of, he would've assumed it was a robot. _But it breathed_. It took deep, heavy breaths, releasing hot steam from its mouth every time. Not even Venom seemed to know what it was.

Flint, however, didn't hesitate. The fur on his arm stood on end for a moment as if from static as a sphere the same blue of his eyes appeared in his hand. He hurled it at the behemoth, but it only seemed to annoy the creature.

"That's new," he said as the creature charged toward him. It took a swing at the Cawthon, who generated a shield made of the same kind of energy. The shield held strong, but Flint was pushed back a few feet. Lefte immediately intervened, his missing eyes filling with a glowing red sphere as he blasted a red beam at the cyborg.

The creature grunted in pain, but other than that, the energy beam didn't seem to affect the armored behemoth. 

"Flint!" Rogue called, and the Cawthon reacted instantly. He dodged another swing from the goliath, diving and flipping toward Rogue, putting his hand onto her shoulder. Energy flowed down his arm into the vixen, whose eyes flashed the same blue as his. 

She nodded in appreciation, then immediately jumped into action. Rogue jumped into action, jumping over a swing from the behemoth, jumping off his fist to take his back. The creature roared, reaching his arm back in an attempt to hit her off. At the same time, red ropes materialized around his arms and head, then tightened, pinning them to his head. All the while, Flint came up in front of it, his fist flaming with that blue energy. "Lefte, keep him pinned," he commanded. "Rogue, hack into his robotics to keep him from breaking free. I'll burn through the armor."

Deathbringer could hardly believe their coordination. All Rogue had to do was call his name and he knew exactly what was expected of him! Not even he and his mother were on that level of communication...

"Deathbringer!" Lefte called. His eye was glowing red and his arm was outstretched toward the behemoth, using all of his strength to keep the cyborg from breaking free as Flint shot a constant beam of energy into its chest. "Get Glory out of here! Tell everyone to retreat to the border of the rainforest!"

Deathbringer was filled with embarrassment. Why had he just been standing there while they were all trying to deal with the threat? _No time to think about that now,_ Deathbringer reminded himself. He led Glory out of the hut. On the way, they met multiple doctors and security guards who were questioning what was going on. 

"Do not engage," Glory instructed everyone who asked. "Evacuate the hospital to the edge of the forest. Tell anyone you see what's happening."

When they made it out, they immediately bolted back to the palace. Back there, there was an intercom system, allowing Glory to make announcements without having to call a meeting, then waiting for all the dragons to gather. 

They raced through the corridor, telling every guard and citizen they encountered to evacuate. 

As they rounded the corner to the room where the intercom was stationed, Twisted stood in their path. 


	20. Why Won't You Die?!

It was a mystery to Flint why Cawthon had chosen him to be the next reincarnation. If he wasn't a Cawthon, then he'd just be left in the dust, forgotten. The previous Cawthon's had made huge strides, helped to better billions of lives. They were pure, strong, brave.

What was he?

He was born into a family he didn't get to meet and then captured by the Nightmares. If he wasn't fighting them as the Cawthon, he'd be fighting the Cawthon as a Nightmare. The other Cawthon's had been pure of heart, with valiant friends by their sides. Flint? He had the mark of the enemy branded onto his neck, now hidden under his fur, but far from forgotten. 

Even his best friends and teammates were created by the Nightmares and marked as defective. They all struggled with their inner darkness. They couldn't even kill this stupid gorilla! The further he drilled into this thing, the less it seemed to have any effect!

Flint knew that if he used _it_ , then this would be far easier. But he refused to become dependant on the Nightmare's curse. _Just a little more,_ he told himself, pushing more energy into his beam despite his exhaustion. 

To his dread, the ropes binding the creature's arms loosened before tightening again. Flint looked over at Lefte, who had blood slowly falling from his nose. _He's using too much,_ the Cawthon realized. _Come on, man. Just a little longer._

The mystic tried his best, but eventually, his exhaustion overtook him. He dropped to his knees, the ropes vanishing into impotent sparkles. Flint swore he saw a smile behind the creature's mask before steam blasted from his body. Rogue covered her face to protect herself, sacrificing her handhold. 

The cyborg roared in and leaped upward, knocking Rogue off as he tore through the ceiling. It wasn't long before it came back down, bringing a metal fist down onto the Cawthon. Flint put a shield, blocking the attack. Without warning, the creature's other fist swung around from under. It slammed into the wolf with a _crack!_ as his ribs broke under the pressure

 _What is this thing?!_ he wondered as he broke through the wall before crashing to the forest floor. For a few long moments, he laid there, struggling to breathe. Then, he felt it. His bones began to shift back into place and heal, as did the organs they damaged.

While before he said that he refused to rely on the curse the Nightmare's had given him, he supposed that wasn't entirely true. In fact, he relied quite heavily on his increased immune system, incredible healing factor, as well as his heightened speed, strength, reflexes, and... well, you get the idea.

Once the pain was bearable, he threw himself back up and into the fight. He focused his energy, drawing what he wanted with his hand before grasping it. A long blade resembling a Jiao appeared in his hand, and he ran back into battle.

Meanwhile, Lefte was still sitting in the corner. _Get up,_ he told himself. _Fight!_ But his body refused to move. Pathetic. He was fighting alongside the person destined to save the spectroverse, and he couldn't even stand! He was a mystic. By his knowledge, the last mystic in the spectroverse. They were created by Cawthon to hold the spectroverse together. 

But he wasn't made by Cawthon. He was made by the Nightmares, and he didn't even go enough for them. _No wonder,_ he thought, watching hazily as his friends fought hard while he simply stood by. 

That frustration grew in him, and before he knew it, it had transformed into anger. _No,_ he said, pushing it down no matter how good it felt to have it. He couldn't give in to the Nightmare's way of gathering energy. It was like a person with a family history of addiction. If he wasn't careful, he could fall into that trap, and who knows where that'd lead him.

 _But what if it's the only way?_ the mystic wondered suddenly. Could releasing his anger be the only way to defeat this foe? Flint was the strongest person he knew, and he could barely cause a scratch! 

Temptation overwhelmed him. _Maybe... maybe_ _just a little,_ he thought, loosening his hold on his anger. It filled him with energy. _Maybe a little more..._

"It'll be hard," Flint's voice rang in his head. "But I know we can do it, together. We may be Nightmares, but we are _not_ one of them."

Back then, Rogue had brushed it off as really cheesy, but Lefte had stayed quiet. They had been the only thing keeping him from releasing that pent-up rage, from giving in to the same temptation he was feeling now! 

He wasn't going to let Flint down. 

Strength filled him again, but not from anger. Fueled with determination, he forced his body back under his control. _Focus,_ he reminded himself. He knew that physically, there wasn't much he could do. He didn't have enhanced physical attributes like his friends. But maybe he could help in other ways...

He assessed the creature. He knew that whatever the armor was made of was too thick to get past efficiently, especially when it was attacking like this. He needed to find a weak point if they were to have any chance of winning. The most obvious place would be the joints, but the Nightmare's seem to have thought of that; the joints seemed to be all robotic and made of the same material. The next would be the face, but he saw Flint blast it multiple times, and it hadn't seemed to take any effect.

 _Come on,_ he thought. There had to be a weak spot on this thing! But it was getting hard to think. Even with the holes in the walls, the steam was starting to--

_The steam!_


	21. Transmission

**This broadcast has been translated and revised from its original form for the viewer's experience.**

Attention, T-03,

We have reviewed your request and authorized a further investigation into your case regarding the transmission. Upon inspection, we discovered that you were correct. Based on our findings, the mystic mentioned in the recording is highly unlikely to be M-01. 23 credits have been added to your balance, and 392 were taken to fund the expedition. The intermission was traced back to Universe 373. We are sending you to Control Center [REDACTED], located within the dimension, along with [TRANSLATION ERROR] credits for employees, weapons, extra needed research, etc. You may contact [REDACTED] to request further compensation.

I'm sure I don't have to remind you of the consequences that come with failure.

 **OBJECTIVE:** Find and recruit the mystic. Enslave dimension once completed.

**END OF TRANSMISSION.**

...

...

Only [TRANSLATION ERROR] credits, huh? Should've known. I can easily double it if I gamble right at Naga's Casino, but that'll still be cutting it close...

Well, then again, if I can sink the titanic, I can get a young mystic.


	22. Confrontation

Glory and Deathbringer stopped right in their tracks, staring at the menacing beast in front of them. The queen squinted at the fox. It looked so... familiar. But for the life of her, she couldn't figure out where she knew him from!

Then, it struck her, and her heart collapsed in her chest. It was the fox from her Nightmares! 

"Well, well, well," he treated with an amused look on his face. "It's nice to see you all! How are you doing? I hope you've been burning."

The fox cackled at his own bad joke, which was barely even a joke but seemed to amuse him nonetheless. Deathbringer was frozen solid, knowing that they'd have to fight him if they wanted to have any chance of getting past him; but he also knew that there was _no_ way he could win against Twisted.

"You know, I really would've kept my promise," he informed Deathbringer. "if you had helped, I was really going to provide all the services I offered you, without any tricks. But now that you've not only disagreed and made my agent betray me, but you also had to go and join the Cawthon..." 

Twisted's smile turned into a snarl, before reverting to his amused smirk. "Now... Now we'll just have to kill you before I go on with my plan... And since Glory's here, I'll have to kill her too!"-- as he added layers to his plan, his speech grew more and more frantic.-- "And since the tribe will notice their queen missing, I'll have to kill them all too! And since a tribe disappearing won't go unnoticed, I'll just have to kill everyone! And it all started with YOU!"

He aimed his hooked hand at the two and Glory came to another startling realization. _The hook,_ she thought. _It's the one Thorn gave me! That means... he was in the palace... he was 3 hallways away from where we sleep!_

Deathbringer suddenly pounced into action, fueled by adrenaline. The floor broke underneath him when he pushed off of it, calling on Venom's strength as he flew forward his target. Twisted only smiled and stepped to the side nonchalantly, easily avoiding the attack. As the nightwing flew past, the fox seized his tail and swung him over his head into the ground in front of him. 

Glory's bodyguard hit the ground hard enough to not only crack it but to bounce back up. Without missing a beat, Twisted drop kicked Deathbringer, seeing the ex-assassin flying down the hall until he slid to a stop. 

"So predictable," the fox sighed. Deathbringer saw Glory open her mouth to spit acid, and before he could tell her to stop, the world-destroyer was on her. He grasped her throat, lifted her off the ground then slamming her back down. He looked the nightwing in the eyes, and his heart gripped. _He wouldn't dare_ , he told himself, but he knew that wasn't true. 

However, to his relief, the fox didn't kill her. He stood up, with her still in his clutches, then discarded her like trash. The queen was sent through a wall, but it wasn't with enough force to kill her. 

"I'm not supposed to tell anyone this," Twisted monologues as he sauntered toward Deathbringer. "But not long ago, we intercepted a transmission. It had obviously been intended for the Cawthons but we found it first! In this transmission, an unidentified speaker told us to find the mystic.'"

Deathbringer growled despite his curiosity and attacked again. However, the result was the same. The nightwing quickly followed it up by sending multiple of Venom's tentacles, hoping to ensnare the Nightmare. Green flames appeared in front of the fox, and pain overtook Deathbringer's body as the symbiote also shrieked in agony. _Fire weakness,_ the nightwing remembered.

"Originally, we thought it was Lefte. I mean, who else would it be? But something wasn't sitting right with me. Why would the Cawthon's be told to find the mystic, when he's already with them?"

Deathbringer tried to attack again, but Twisted put a stop to it even before he stood up, blasting the bodyguard with green flames. They were unnaturally hot and left him feeling sick inside.

"So I ordered an investigation, and sure enough, it wasn't him. My job was to come here, identify who the mystic was, and either recruit or kill them. We were here for a thousand years, Deathbringer."

Before the nightwing could even think of attacking again, the fox kicked him upside the head. His body snapped to follow his head, making his body contort painfully.

"Just when I was about to call off the mission, it happened. The Cawthons find out where I am, and haphazardly open a portal in a rush to escape the agents I sent after them. I look up and what do I see? You getting struck not once, but twice with a lightning infused with mystic energy."

Twisted put a foot onto Deathbringer's head, pressing it into the floor. "Then, weeks later, Venom says that you somehow remembered events that happened in a reset."

"Why are you telling me this?" Deathbringer questioned. The fox grinned sinisterly, pressing his head harder into the ground. 

"You're a mystic, Deathbringer. And, well, since you didn't join, I have orders to destroy you."

The nightwing roared and struggled, but despite Venom's strength, was powerless under the world destroyer's grasp. Then, as if in hesitation, Twisted's foot lifted just enough. Deathbringer knocked the fox back then threw himself away from him, scrambling to his feet.

"But here's the kicker!" the fox growled, his grin spreading wider and wider. "I'm not going to kill you!... He is."

On cue, Deathbringer heard a thump behind him. Before he could turn to see who it was, he was knocked away by a red tentacle, seemingly from a symbiote. A much more powerful symbiote. The hit knocked him through the palace wall. Venom reacted quick enough, taking over Deathbringer and landing on their feet. Their attacker roared. Though, it could barely be described as a roar so much as a high-pitched screech. Finally, the other symbiote showed itself, and Deathbringer's blood ran cold.

It shouldn't have, because the nightwing had no idea who this red klyntaarian was. But Venom did. His shock was so great, it overwhelmed the symbiote, allowing it to flood into Deathbringer's body. 

**"My boy..."**

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment, I'm so very lonely


End file.
